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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Ex Vivo Assessment of Contractility, Fatigability and Alternans in Isolated Skeletal Muscles
Published on: November 1, 2012
Myotonia induced by potassium repletion in a diabetic patient with secondary hypokalemic paralysis
P Bertora1, M R Caccia, A Mangoni
1Clinica Neurologica, Istituto di Scienze Biomediche Ospedale L. Sacco, Milano, Italia.
Abstract:
In a woman suffering from insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, hypokalemic paralysis developed acutely following an episode of diabetes decompensation. During the treatment of this episode, as soon as serum potassium levels were restored to normal values, a marked increase in muscular excitability with an electromyographic picture of myotonia was observed. The patient showed signs of chronic muscle denervation that accounted for an increased sensitivity to potassium-induced depolarization and contraction and that might have been responsible for the appearance of myotonia during potassium repletion.
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