BACKGROUND Australia uses acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance to monitor its polio-free status. The World Health Organization criterion for a sensitive AFP surveillance system is the annual detection of at least one non-polio AFP case per 100,000 children aged less than 15 years, a target Australia has not consistently achieved. Children exhibiting AFP are likely to be hospitalised and m...

Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis is a rare endocrine disorder seen predominantly in men of Asian origin. The case is reported of a patient who presented to the accident and emergency department with sudden onset of weakness of his lower limbs. Hypokalaemia was identified and treated with resolution of symptoms. Additional tests identified the patient as being thyrotoxic. He was treated with oral a...

Hypokalemic periodic paralysis (HypoPP) is an ion channelopathy of skeletal muscle characterized by attacks of muscle weakness associated with low serum K+. HypoPP results from a transient failure of muscle fiber excitability. Mutations in the genes encoding a calcium channel (CaV1.1) and a sodium channel (NaV1.4) have been identified in HypoPP families. Mutations of NaV1.4 give rise to a heter...

We evaluated the involvement of the sarcolemmal ATP-sensitive K+ channel in the depolarization of skeletal muscle fibers occurring in an animal model of human hypokalemic periodic paralysis, the K+-depleted rat. After 23-36 days of treatment with a K+-free diet, an hypokalemia was observed in the rats. No difference in the fasting insulinemia and glycemia was found between normokalemic and hypo...

The authors describe an Italian kindred with nine individuals affected by hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis associated with paramyotonia congenita (hyperPP/PMC). Periodic paralysis was particularly severe, with several episodes a day lasting for hours. The onset of episodes was unusually early, beginning in the first year of life and persisting into adult life. The paralytic episodes were refrac...

Familial periodic paralyses are typical channelopathies (i.e., caused by functional disturbances of ion channel proteins). The episodes of flaccid muscle weakness observed in these disorders are due to underexcitability of sarcolemma leading to a silent electromyogram and the lack of action potentials even upon electrical stimulation. Interictally, ion channel malfunction is well compensated, s...

Thyrotoxic hypokalemic periodic paralysis (THPP) is a rare, potentially life-threatening endocrine emergency. It is characterized by recurrent muscle weakness and hypokalemia. Because many THPP patients do not have obvious symptoms and signs of hyperthyroidism, misdiagnosis may occur. The published studies revealed that definitive therapy for THPP is control of hyperthyroidism by medical therap...

BACKGROUND periodic paralysis related to hypokalemia is seldom reported in thyrotoxicosis, and it usually occurs in Asian males. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two Romanian (Caucasian) young patients presented with hypokalemic paralysis. TSH, FT4, TT3 was measured by immunochemiluminescence. Case report 1. Patient O.R, aged 19, presented marked asthenia and lower limbs paralysis, following high carbohy...

Toxic thyroid adenoma presenting as hypokalemic periodic paralysis is extraordinarily rare. We describe a 26-year-old Japanese man who suffered from acute and painful muscle weakness of extremity in the morning. Physical examination showed a left anterior neck mass and laboratory tests revealed hypokalemia during his paralysis, and thyrotoxicosis. Neck sonogram showed a solitary nodule in the l...

Thyrotoxic hypokalemic periodic paralysis (TPP) is characterized by acute attacks of weakness, hypokalemia, and thyrotoxicosis of various etiologies. These transient attacks resemble those of patients with familial hypokalemic periodic paralysis (hypoKPP) and resolve with treatment of the underlying hyperthyroidism. Because of the phenotypic similarity of these conditions, we hypothesized that ...