Neonatal hyperkalemic-hypocalcemic cardiac arrest associated with initiation of blood-primed continuous venovenous hemofiltration.

We report hyperkalemic-hypocalcemic cardiac arrest at the initiation of blood-primed continuous venovenous hemofiltration in a 3-wk-old infant. Although hyperkalemia with massive transfusion has been reported and hemodynamic instability is not infrequent at the initiation of continuous venovenous hemofiltration in critically ill children, cardiac arrest in these circumstances is extremely rare at our institution and has not been reported in the literature. We report the case and discuss management strategies for blood-primed extracorporeal circuits.