Oral eplerenone
Eplerenone treatment consisted of 25 mg/day of oral eplerenone (Inspra®, Pfizer, Capelle aan de IJssel, the Netherlands) for 1 week, during which the serum potassium treatment was assessed. After 1 week, the dose was adjusted depending on the potassium level (the eplerenone dose was increased to 50 mg/day if the serum potassium level was < 5.0 mEq/L; the eplerenone dose remained at 25 mg/day if the serum potassium level was 5.0–5.4 mEq/L; the eplerenone dose was decreased to 25 mg every 2 days if the serum potassium level was 5.5–5.9 mEq/L; finally, the eplerenone treatment was terminated if the serum potassium level was ≥ 6.0 mEq/L). The eplerenone dose was adjusted again depending on the potassium level that was measured at 1, 2, and 3 months after the start of treatment [