More than 180 whole body counters were operational worldwide by the early 1970s with more than two thirds of these instruments used to measure body potassium in humans international atomic energy agency 1970. Hypokalemia is usually diagnosed with a blood test.
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Measurement of body potassium. The kidney controls the level of potassium in body fluids by controlling the amount of potassium to be excreted. Why would i get this test. Cadaver analyses by forbes and lewis 1956 enabled the subsequent use of body potassium as an indirect marker for estimating body fat mass. Kidney disease is one of the reasons for the high potassium level. Early investigators used the wbc tbk approach as a measure of lean mass and by subtraction body fat. The total amount of potassium in the adult body is about 45 millimole mmolkg body weight about 140 g for a 175 pound adult.
If the potassium level is increased above 60 mmoll patient requires medical intervention. Whole body counters therefore have been used extensively to monitor tbk in a wide range of healthy and diseased populations. Total body potassium measurement by whole body counter for estimation of lbm. Your doctor may also order an electrocardiogram of your heart and an arterial blood gas test to measure ph levels in your body. Potassium is a measurable element in vivo and the use of tbk as an index of body composition has a long history in body composition and nutritional research. Even minor increases or decreases in.
Your body should maintain a specific amount of potassium in the blood ranging from 36 to 52 millimoles per liter mmoll. The measurement of total body potassium tbk has long been recognized as an accurate index of the bodys cell mass that is the metabolically active tissues of the body. Potassium is an electrolyte thats essential for proper muscle and nerve function. As an example the st. A potassium test is used to measure the amount of potassium in your blood. The normal range of potassium level in the body is 32 mmoll to 52 mmoll.
Whole body potassium was measured by counting 40 k in a shadow shield whole body counter. Most potassium resides intracellularly and a small amount is in extracellular fluid 2 4. Lukes 4π wbc has good intraclass correlation r 0998 and mean cv 23. 1 mmol 1 milliequivalent meq or 391 mg potassium 3. The counter consisted of six nai tl detectors that ranged from 76 to 127 cm in diameter and from 76 to 127 cm thick.