Gitelman Syndrome Diagnosed in a Woman in the Second Trimester of Pregnancy

NMDA Autoimmune Encephalitis and Severe Persistent Hypokalemia in a Pregnant Woman

Introduction: For more than a decade, NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis has been studied and treated as a neurological condition, and good results have been achieve through immune therapies. Apart from being well represented in the CNS, NMDA receptors are currently known of and being studied in multiple non-neuronal cells with potential clinical significance. The association of NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis with pregnancy is rare, and hypokalemia is not mentioned. Methods: We present the case of a 30-year-old woman with NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis in her 17th week of pregnancy associated with persistent hypokalemia that had no apparent cause and resisted Kalium chloride supplementation. A diagnostic work-up including clinical, laboratory, and imagistic examinations, was performed. The case was monitored between May and September 2016 at Neurology, SCJUT. Results: Severe hypokalemia with normal serum sodium levels persisted throughout the course of clinical manifestation of anti-NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis. Conclusions: NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis is under-diagnosed in its atypical clinical variants, and this disease’s association with hypokalemia is not mentioned in the literature. Still, it is of clinical importance because it attests to the implications of other organs/systems in the general autoimmune process of NMDAR encephalitis, and it might change the way we address certain psychiatric disorders by searching underlying organic conditions.

Anaesthesia for emergency caesarean section in a patient with Gitelman syndrome

Gitelman syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive salt-losing disorder of renal tubules, which results in hypokalemic metabolic alkalosis. Associated hypomagnesaemia and hypocalcaemia are also seen. Gitelman syndrome is a variant of renal Bartter's syndrome. Anaesthetic management of these obstetric patients is challenging and requires a careful multidisciplinary approach. Close monitoring of potassium and magnesium levels and their supplementation is required to avoid complications to mother and baby.