The effects of magnesium supplementation on the incidence of cardiac complications after pediatric cardiac surgery

Background and Objective: The present study aimed to assess the role of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) sup-plementation after cardiac surgery in pediatric patients, evaluating the incidence of cardiac complications, such as arrhythmia. Methods: In this study, 105 children scheduled for elective cardiac surgery were randomly divided into 3 groups. The first group, as the placebo group, received saline. Groups 2 and 3, on the other hand, respectively received 25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg MgSO4 during the recovery phase of cardiac surgery. Results: The results showed no significant difference among the study groups regarding the levels of Mg, Ca, and K at the time of admission to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). However, the patients re-ceiving 50 mg/kg MgSO4 (group 3) had a significantly lesser occurrence of arrhythmia compared to the control group (group 1). Furthermore, the patients in groups 2 and 3 had a lesser length of CICU stay after surgery in comparison to group 1. No association was found between MgSO4 consumption and the types of arrhythmia and the time of mechanical ventilation. Conclusions: Supplementation with MgSO4 after cardiac surgery seems to reduce the incidence of arrhyth-mia and length of CICU stay in pediatric patients. This effect on the incidence of arrhythmia seems to be dose related.