A case series of piperacillin-tazobactam induced hypokalemia in a tertiary care hospital in South India

Potassium is an important intracellular cation responsible for action potential generation and normal functioning of muscles. Hypokalemia and hyperkalemia are both dangerous as they cause life threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Piperacillin tazobactam is a commonly used beta-lactam and beta-lactamase inhibitor combination for complicated abdominal and urinary tract infections. Under pharmacovigilance programme of India, few cases of hypokalemia which were attributed to piperacillin tazobactam therapy were reported. This is a case series of 10 patients who developed hypokalemia secondary to piperacillin tazobactam therapy.