Therapeutic Use of Magnesium in Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

With such strong evidence that magnesium deficiency—or other factors that cause subnormal magnesium levels—can lead to functional and morphologic cardiovascular abnormalities, it is surprising that there has been so little clinical application of these findings. It is to be hoped that the detailed case reports published by Chadda et al. (1973b) and Iseri et al. (1975), in which they described rapid correction by magnesium of arrhythmias that had been refractory to the widely accepted therapeutic modalities, will stimulate others to consider magnesium treatment and evaluation of the magnesium status of patients with cardiac, and especially life-threatening arrhythmias. It must be cautioned that severe hypomagnesemia is not a necessary finding. For example, Chadda et al. (1973b, 1976/1980) found only slightly subnormal serum magnesium levels, but histories of diuretic intake and myocardial infarctions (which cause magnesium loss) in patients with a high incidence of ventricular ectopia. Iseri et al. (1975) reviewed the clinical states and drugs associated with magnesium deficiency and loss, and pointed out that magnesium deficiency can clearly exist without hypomagnesemia. They cited a reference (Loeb et al., 1968) that demonstrated that hypomagnesemia can predispose to arrhythmia (which eventually responded to standard therapy without magnesium repletion).