A 63-year-old woman with long-standing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and controlled systolic congestive heart failure following a previous anterior myocardial infarction presents for a routine office visit. She denies any significant complaints. The patient faithfully takes her glargine insulin, lisinopril, carvedilol, furosemide, and aspirin. On examination her blood pressure is 122/82, pulse 85, RR 14, with clear lungs, regular heartbeat, and 1+ bilateral pedal edema. You review the chart and find that her baseline creatinine is 1.5 mg/dL with an estimated glomerular filtration (GFR) rate of 42 mL/min. Her laboratory studies drawn early the morning of the visit returns as follows:Na: 138 mEq/LK: 6.0 mEq/LHCO3: 15 mEq/LCl: 120 mEq/LBUN: 20 mg/dLCreatinine: 1.8 mg/dLGlucose: 183 mg/dLYou suspect she has a Type 4 renal tubular acidosis. What is the most common pathophysiologic scenario leading to this acid-base disturbance?
Correct Answer: The combination of long-standing diabetes and hypertension has led to distal nephron dysfunction inhibiting both acid and potassium secretion.
Description: Type 4 renal tubular acidosis occurs when there is distal nephron dysfunction leading to disproportionate levels of hyperkalemia and acidosis compared to the degree of kidney disease encountered. This is most commonly seen in patients with long-standing diabetes and can be exacerbated by the use of non-steroidal, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. A patient with congestive heart failure and renal hypoperfusion can develop prerenal azotemia, but you would expect clinical evidence of decompensated heart failure and an elevated BUN to creatinine ratio (well above 10/1). A patient who has been over diuresis will tend to have hypokalemia, a higher BUN/Cr ratio and a contraction alkalosis. Salicylate poisoning typically requires a significant ingestion (not mentioned in this question) and causes a wide-anion gap metabolic acidosis. Use of ACE inhibitors can lead to hyperkalemia but neither ACE inhibitors nor beta-blockers typically lead to a Type 4 RTA.
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