Systemic lupus erythematosus with distal renal tubular acidosis presenting as hypokalemic paralysis with respiratory failure.

An eighteen-year-old woman presented with hypokalemic respiratory failure. She was found to have distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) as the underlying cause for hypokalemia. This was treated successfully, and no apparent etiology for the dRTA was discovered. Three years later she presented with full-blown picture of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) together with features of persistent dRTA complicated, this time, with bilateral renal calculi and nephrocalcinosis. It is very likely that the dRTA was an early feature that preceded the other markers of SLE. The moral of this case is that patients with dRTA should be followed-up carefully as a primary cause for the dRTA may show up in-due-course and to monitor the treatment so as to prevent long-term complications of the RTA.