The Nephropathy of Potassium Depletion

IT is the purpose of this report to describe the clinical and functional aspects of the renal disease associated with potassium depletion in man, and to correlate these with the histologic changes found in renal tissue obtained by serial biopsies.It is well known that experimental depletion of potassium produces renal tubular lesions in rats.1 2 3 Although there have been a few recent reports of renal lesions in human subjects dying with potassium deficiency,4 5 6 7 the clinical and physiologic implications of the renal damage have not received attention until recently. A previous report8 described 2 patients in whom marked but apparently reversible . . .