Correction of ionized plasma magnesium during cardiopulmonary bypass reduces the risk of postoperative cardiac arrhythmia.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Magnesium, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Eighty-five patients presenting for coronary artery bypass grafting were randomly assigned either to the magnesium-corrected group, which received magnesium sulfate on the basis of measured levels of ionized plasma magnesium (n = 43), or to the control group, in which magnesium levels were identified but not corrected (n = 42).

Ionized magnesium was determined with an ion-selective electrode with minimal delay, and further samples were taken for laboratory analysis of total plasma magnesium.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 45 patients taking part.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Magnesium and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

What Was Measured

Eighty-five patients presenting for coronary artery bypass grafting were randomly assigned either to the magnesium-corrected group, which received magnesium sulfate on the basis of measured levels of ionized plasma magnesium (n = 43), or to the control group, in which magnesium levels were identified but not corrected (n = 42).

Both total and ionized magnesium levels declined further during the course of cardiopulmonary bypass in the control group.

The subject headings attached to it are Anesthesia, Arrhythmias, Cardiac, Cardiopulmonary Bypass, Electrocardiography, Electrodes, Magnesium and Monitoring, Intraoperative.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Magnesium in 45 patients.

Its findings take up roughly 3 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2002 (Anesthesia and analgesia), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc library page, all human trials.