Severe hyperkalemia can lead to which life-threatening event?

Severe hyperkalemia can lead to which life-threatening event?

• A. Seizures.
• B. Increased urine production.
• C. Cardiac arrest.
• D. Hyperglycemia.

Answer: (C)

Severe hyperkalemia directly disrupts cardiac electrical activity by raising extracellular potassium, which depolarizes cardiac myocytes and decreases the gradient across the cell membrane. As this continues, normal conduction slows and becomes irregular, leading to dangerous arrhythmias that can progress to cardiac arrest. This is the life-threatening consequence most closely linked to very high potassium levels. Other options don’t reflect the primary cardiac danger: seizures are not the characteristic immediate outcome of severe potassium elevation, and increased urine production or hyperglycemia are not the hallmark life-threatening events caused by hyperkalemia.

Severe hyperkalemia directly disrupts cardiac electrical activity by raising extracellular potassium, which depolarizes cardiac myocytes and decreases the gradient across the cell membrane. As this continues, normal conduction slows and becomes irregular, leading to dangerous arrhythmias that can progress to cardiac arrest. This is the life-threatening consequence most closely linked to very high potassium levels. Other options don’t reflect the primary cardiac danger: seizures are not the characteristic immediate outcome of severe potassium elevation, and increased urine production or hyperglycemia are not the hallmark life-threatening events caused by hyperkalemia.