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. 2020 Oct 1:23:68-76.
doi: 10.37825/2239-9747.1015. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Ionized or Total Magnesium levels, what should we measure in critical ill patients?

G Scarpati  1 , D Baldassarre  1 , F Oliva  1 , G Pascale  1 , O Piazza  1
Affiliations

Ionized or Total Magnesium levels, what should we measure in critical ill patients?

G Scarpati et al. Transl Med UniSa. .

Abstract

Monitoring and measuring magnesium (Mg) values are essential to prevent the development of numerous complications in perioperative medicine and critically ill patients. Although previous studies suggest that measuring free ionized magnesium (iMg) is more useful for estimating Mg status, clinicians currently rely on measurement of total serum magnesium to determine if supplemental magnesium is needed. In this review, we analyzed the recent literature to decide whether it is better to measure ionized serum Mg or total serum Mg when assessing magnesium status, whether iMg predicts clinical outcome, and what are the difficulties in measuring serum iMg levels in intensive care patients and perioperative medicine.

Keywords: Dysmagnesemia; ICU; Ionised Magnesium; Preoperative Medicine.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Total Magnesium vs Ionized Magnesium. Why in our opinion we should measure ionized magnesium.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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