Elderly heart failure patients with drug-induced serious hyperkalemia.

We report four cases of hyperkalemia induced by the association of spironolactone with ACE inhibitor in geriatric patients. Over a period of one year, four elderly patients treated for congestive heart failure with this association were admitted to the Geriatric Ward with serious hyperkalemia. These occurrences represented one third of all-cause severe hyperkalemia cases admitted during this one-year period. A common observation in our cases was that the dose of spironolactone employed far exceeded the recommended dosages. These cases illustrate that spironolactone dosage must be kept low in the setting of chronic congestive heart failure treatment, as well as the need for close monitoring of frail elderly patients who are given this combination.