An update on the importance of monitoring serum magnesium in advanced disease patients.
aPalliative Care
Unit, Clinic University of Navarra bUniversity of Navarra, Institute
for Culture and Society (ICS), ATLANTES Research Program: Human Dignity,
Advance Disease and Palliative Care, Pamplona, Spain.
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW:
Patients
with advanced diseases are exposed to many causes of hypomagnesaemia,
the most frequent being pharmacological causes through the
administration of chemotherapy, antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors, and
so on. The objective of this review is to demonstrate the importance of
measuring magnesium levels in the blood of these patients.
RECENT FINDINGS:
In
the last decade, studies have been published showing a direct
relationship between low levels of magnesium and nonspecific symptoms
including pain
that is difficult to control. Nevertheless, hypomagnesaemia is still
being omitted as a differential diagnosis in many such patients.
SUMMARY:
A review of recently published studies regarding the clinical presentation of hypomagnesaemia in patients with advanced cancer
and other chronic diseases is presented. Many of the clinical
conditions are reportedly alleviated with intravenous or even oral
magnesium administration. The presence of nonspecific neurological signs
and risk factors for hypomagnesaemia could serve as an indication that
serum magnesium should be determined in these patients.
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