Supralethal magnesemia with patient survival
Article Abstract:
When patients develop preeclampsia (a disease of pregnancy associated with headaches, edema, protein excretion, and high blood pressure), they are often treated with magnesium sulfate to prevent convulsions; however, this drug can produce serious side effects. The case report is presented of a patient who was pregnant with a fetus that appeared to be growth-retarded on ultrasound examination at 27 weeks' gestation. The patient had high blood pressure and protein in the urine; as a consequence of these and other findings, a cesarean delivery was performed. The infant, who weighed about one pound, died within 10 minutes. Six hours earlier, an infusion of magnesium sulfate had been started. The mother was in good health for the first 18 hours after surgery, when she received an extremely large dose of magnesium sulfate due to an error in administering the drug. Emergency treatment was instituted for respiratory arrest (cessation of breathing) and cardiac abnormalities. The patient recovered and was discharged home four days after surgery, with normal blood pressure and no apparent sequelae. At blood levels of 4 to 6 milligrams per deciliter, magnesium sulfate prevents convulsions; loss of reflexes and respiratory paralysis occur at levels of 10 and 15 milligrams per deciliter, respectively. The patient's blood level of magnesium sulfate reached 38.7 milligrams per deciliter, which is far higher the generally-accepted lethal level. Calcium salts must be administered to patients after magnesium sulfate overdose, and drug administration must be carefully monitored. Other criteria for the management of magnesium toxicity are discussed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Obstetrics and Gynecology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0029-7844
Year: 1990
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Ethics in health: some current perspectives
Article Abstract:
Bioethics is the main focus of several legislations on the practice of medicine and health care delivery. Ethical issues in mental health, biotechnology and reproductive health and equitable distribution of scarce resources are some of the main concerns of bioethics.
Publication Name: World Health
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0043-8502
Year: 1995
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Urinary tract cancers found by homescreening with hematuria dipsticks in healthy men over 50 years of age. Assessment of gonadal maturation by evaluation of spermaturia
- Abstracts: East European dispatch. Growing knee cartilage. The giraffe: the emergency care practitioner; fit for purpose? The East Anglian experience
- Abstracts: Food allergy and intolerance. Alimentary agony: allergy and the gut. Food as a motivator in a client with Prader Willi syndrome
- Abstracts: Obstructed intestine as a reservoir for systemic infection. Vulvodynia and selective IgA deficiency. Case reports
- Abstracts: Current perspectives in the management of the menopausal and postmenopausal patient: introduction. Phytoestrogens