Key result
Severe hypokalemia can present with large negative U waves on an electrocardiogram, which resolve upon normalization of serum potassium levels.
Case Report (n=1)
No
Severe hypokalemia can present with large negative U waves on ECG, which resolve upon potassium replacement, mimicking signs of severe structural or ischemic heart disease.
Clinicians should exclude hypokalemia before attributing large negative U waves to ischemia; single case leaves open prospective validation.
Negative U waves in the electrocardiogram are highly specific indicators of hypertensive, valvular or ischemic heart disease. Hypokalemia, on the other hand, is usually associated with large positive U waves. In this report we present a case where a routine preoperative electrocardiogram showed large negative U waves in the chest leads. Thorough cardiac evaluation ruled out any of the listed structural or functional abnormalities. At the time of the recording, the patient had profound hypokalemia. After normalization of the serum potassium, the large negative U waves resolved. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of negative U waves in hypokalemia. We offer a possible explanation for this unusual finding.
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Dalrymple et al. (2014) conducted a case report in Hypokalemia (n=1). Hypokalemia vs. Normokalemia was evaluated on Electrocardiogram U wave morphology. Severe hypokalemia can present with large negative U waves on an electrocardiogram, which resolve upon normalization of serum potassium levels.
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