[Magnesium in anesthesia and postoperative recovery care]

Magnesium is involved in many physiological processes and in the pathophysiology of many diseases that affect surgical patients. The incidence of hypomagnesemia in the perioperative setting is high and is sometimes underestimated, with important prognostic implications. Magnesium also has a variety of therapeutic indications in postoperative recovery care, obstetrics, cardiology, heart surgery, pain treatment, anesthesia, pneumology, etc. Magnesium's role in the organism and its pharmacological properties continue to be studied and new situations in which the ion plays a relevant part are being suggested. It has become essential for the anesthesiologist to understand the pharmacological, clinical, and physiological properties of magnesium. The present review aims to give a simple but complete overview of the physiological importance of the magnesium ion, the perioperative changes that occur, and its therapeutic applications in numerous clinical contexts.