Clinical Chemistry, Vol 35, 664-667, Copyright © 1989 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Hypomagnesemia and low alkaline phosphatase activity in patients' serum after cardiac surgery

G Lum, C Marquardt and SF Khuri
Laboratory Service, Brockton/West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center, MA 02132.

Significant decreases in magnesium (Mg) concentration and alkaline phosphatase (ALP, EC 3.1.3.1) activity in serum were seen in patients after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (Group 1), as compared with non-cardiac-surgery patients after general anesthesia (Group 2) or only spinal anesthesia (Group 3). Mean changes for Mg and ALP by the first postoperative day, compared with pre-operative baseline values, were as follows: Group 1: Mg -7.5 mg/L (-38.3%), ALP - 46U/L (-48.4%); Group 2: Mg -3.3 mg/L (-17.4%), ALP -17 U/L (-16.5%); and Group 3: Mg -1.9 mg/L (-10.0%), ALP -15 U/L (-14.0%). The decreases in Mg and ALP observed in post-cardiac-surgery patients appear to be a consequence of the cardiac surgery and the cardiopulmonary bypass pump. Measurement of Mg and ALP in a subgroup of 10 cardiac-surgery patients for 10 days postoperatively showed initial decreases, with gradual recovery to near-normal values by the 10th day. That the changes in Mg and ALP seen postoperatively were not attributable to hemodilution alone was confirmed by measuring total-protein concentrations before and after operation. ALP requires Mg ion in vitro for optimal activity, but addition of Mg in the appropriate amounts to sera with low ALP activity did not restore ALP activity. The low ALP activity seen in post-cardiac surgery patients in vivo may perhaps be related to factors other than Mg that were removed by the cardiopulmonary bypass pump.