Gitelmans Syndrome- A Rare Cause of Recurrent Syncope

Gitelman's syndrome, or congenital hypokalemic hypomagnesemic hypocalciuria with metabolic alkalosis, is widely described as a benign or milder variant of Barter's syndrome. It presents with variable clinical symptoms including tetanic episodes, muscle cramps, muscle paralysis, tingling numbness, perioral tingling sensation, salt craving and nocturia. This milder salt wasting syndrome can rarely cause significant ventricular arrhythmias and even death. Here, we report a case of 59 year old male who presented with history of recurrent syncope. He was found to have recurrent polymorphic VT with persistent hypokalemia and hypomagnesia. After extensive metabolic investigation, he was diagnosed as a case of Gitelman's syndrome. We report this case because of this rare malignant presentation of a seemingly benign syndrome.