US Bill: Mandatory KI Stockpiling

["Wes Van Pelt" <wesvanpelt@ATT.NET>]

All,



If the K in KI is potentially harmful to the heart, why not use NaI as a

thyroid blocker instead of KI? I always thought it was simply the iodine ion

(I+) that was important in blocking further uptake of radioiodine.



Wes



Wesley R. Van Pelt, PhD, CIH, CHP

Wesley R. Van Pelt Associates, Inc.

Consulting in Radiation Safety and Environmental Radioactivity.

http://home.att.net/~wesvanpelt/Radiation.html

mailto:wesvanpelt@att.net



-----Original Message-----

From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On Behalf Of Tim

Sent: Friday, November 16, 2001 10:20 PM

To: BLReider@AOL.COM; radsafe

Subject: RE: [Fwd: [OEM] [OEM!] US Bill: Mandatory KI Stockpiling]



Hyperkalemia (high potassium level in the blood) can

easily cause asystole (cardiac arrest).  The heart

works by having an electrolyte potential across the

cell membrane and potassium plays an important role in

myocardial repolarization.  In hyperkalemia, the heart

cells cannot repolarize and therefore asystole ensues.



Hyperkalemia is nothing to mess around with.  The

heart does NOT like too much potassium at all.



So, I guess if we distribute KI, then we should also

distribute CaCl becuase CaCl is used to treat

hyperkalemia.  Problem is, CaCl in improper doses can

also cause cardiac arrest!  Its a loose-loose

situation unless you know what you are doing.



Of course, patients taking cardiac glycosides (e.g.

digitalis) are even more susceptible to harmful side

effects.



So, how do you know if you have too much K in your

blood?  Well, you could hook yourself up to a cardiac

monitor and lok for peaked T waves.  I guess we now

should distribute cardiac monitors with each KI dose?



I think I have made my point.



Tim Steadham, P.E.







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