Potassium supplementation mitigates corticosteroid-induced neuropsychiatric effects in pediatric oncology patients

Corticosteroids play an essential role in the treatment of pediatric malignancies, but have many untoward side effects including behavioral and mood disturbances which can be quite burdensome to families. Potassium chloride has been used anecdotally to decrease these neuropsychiatric effects but this experience has not been studied systematically. We therefore retrospectively reviewed our experience utilizing KCl supplementation to reduce corticosteroid-induced neuropsychiatric effects among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Thirteen of 16 patients (81%) had a objective benefit with KCl at a median dose of 0.5 mEq/kg/day, with no reported adverse effects. Further prospective study is required to confirm these data.