Serum magnesium in recovering acute renal failure

We studied the manifestations of hypomagnesemia in 50 patients with acute renal failure who had been admitted in our hospital over a period of ten months. All patients with serum creatine >/= 2 mg/dL and normal baseline levels of serum calcium, magnesium, and potassium as well as normal ECG were included in the study. Patients with multi-organ failure, drug-induced acute renal failure, obstructive uropathy, and alcohol addiction were excluded. The mean age of our study population was 40 +/- 15 years, 37 of the patients were male and 13 were female. Hypomagnesemia was observed in 31 patients out of 50 during the recovery period of acute renal failure with symptomatic hypomagnesemia being seen in 23 patients. Serum magnesium levels on the day of admission and during the recovery phase were 2.11 +/- 0.38 mg/dL and 1.64 +/- 0.41 mg/dL respectively. Paresthesia, irritability, agitation, dysartharia, vertigo, and associated hypokalemia and hypocalcemia were noted in symptomatic hypomagnesemic patients. Treatment of hypomagnesaemia and hypokalemia ameliorated the symptoms. We conclude that these abnormalities produce clinically significant manifestations in recovery phase of acute renal failure and clinicians should pay attention to these.