Over the weekend, I had a patient with Dr. Scott that had a phosphate of 0.8 mmol/L. Phosphate < 1.0 mmol/L is an indication for IV repletion. IV repletion involves giving potassium phosphate. An important clinical question, therefore, is how much potassium does the patient actually get?
1 mmol of IV phosphate delivers 1.46 mEq of potassium
Recommended infusion rate is 5 mmol/hr
Rapid infusion may lead to severe hypocalcemia, hypotension, acute renal failure, hypomagnesemia, and hypernatremia
