comparison of total calcium level during general and spinal anesthesia in gynecologic abdominal surgeries

background: calcium (ca+2) plays an important role in many biophysiological mechanisms .the present study was carried out to assess alterations in total serum calcium level before and after operations in consider to the type of anesthesia. materials and methods: this descriptive study was conducted on 74 women who candidate for gynecological abdominal operations during one year at al-zahra maternity hospital in rasht, iran. the patients underwent general anesthesia (ga) (n=37) or spinal anesthesia (sa) (n=37) randomly. blood samples (2 cc), were obtained an hour before the anesthesia and two hours after that. the blood samples had been sent to the laboratory for analyzing .total serum calcium level, magnesium (mg) and albumin level were measured by photometric methods. inferential statistic was analyzed with the vilkson non-parametric and pearson's correlation test. p-values less than 0.05 have been considered as significant different. results: there was a significant trend to decrease in calcium levels after all gynecological abdominal operations, but there was a significant correlation between general anesthesia (ga) and reduction of serum calcium level (p=0.026) . therefore, general anesthesia (ga) is accompanied by more calcium reduction than spinal anesthesia (sa). conclusion: serum calcium levels tend to decrease after all gynecological abdominal surgeries, but general anesthesia (ga) is accompanied by more calcium reduction than spinal one. it needs to further specific studies, to illustrate association between different methods of anesthesia and ca+2 changes.