This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (22)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Robert B. Sawyer, MD; Michael A. Drew

AMA Arch Surg. 1970;100(4):343-348.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Aberrations in magnesium (Mg) metabolism have not been widely appreciated by the surgical community. Nevertheless, it is not uncommon for such abnormalities to occur during the postoperative period. We have encountered many situations of postoperative symptomatic hypomagnesemia and have wondered to what degree the surgical procedure contributed to the problem.

Undoubtedly, many cases of deranged Mg metabolism are not recognized because of failure to check serum levels of this cation. While the literature contains a number of accounts of postoperative increases and falls in serum Mg, little evidence of the effects of surgical trauma on such changes has been presented. The most often quoted articles by Haynes et al,¹ Thoren,² Beecher et al,³ and Gillette et al⁴ document a decrease in urinary Mg excretion with an associated rise in serum levels. Other authors have noted a transient postoperative hypomagnesemia in patients without severe shock.^5-8

Because of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Presbyterian Medical Center, Denver, Colo.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Dec 10, 1969.

Read before the 77th annual meeting of the Western Surgical Association, Dallas, Nov 20, 1969.

Reprint requests to 1839 High St, Denver 80218 (Dr. Kenneth C. Sawyer).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?