Tibial osteochrondroma and popliteal artery compression

the only ECGabnormalityrecordedwas slight prolongationof QT interval. There were no prominent U waves and the T waves were normal. We wonderedwhetherthe absenceof tachyarrhythmiascouldbe due to theprotective effect of her mild hypocalcaemia'. We have beenunableto find such a severe caseof hypokalaemiain the literature.Paiceet all analysingthe clinical dataof hypokalaemic patientsconcludedthat hypokalaemiatended to be associatedwith females and a high mortality. This patient is still alive eight years after it was noted that she waspersistently hypokalaemic. The causeof the hypokalaemiacan only be speculativeas she has never remainedan inpatient long enoughfor specific investigations to be undertaken.Drug action must play a majorrole, if not the only role,of this hypokalaemia. Chronic aspirin abuse iscertainly a contributoryfactor, as ispersistentvomiting. A potassiumlosing diuretic is anotherpossibility, but proof for this has eluded us. Suchprofoundhypokalaemiatends to precipitate serious cardiac arrhythmia leading to cardiacarrest,andin this instancethe patientis lucky to be still alive.