• Aileen K Wang, Shweta Sharma, Paul Kim, and Karen Mrejen-Shakin.
• Department of Medicine, Queens Hospital Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Jamaica, NY, USA.
• Indian J Crit Care Med. 2014 Jul 1; 18 (7): 456-60.

AbstractWe report a case of symptomatic hypomagnesaemia in medical intensive care unit that is strongly related to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and provide literature review. A 65-year-old male with severe gastroesophageal reflux on omeprazole 20 mg orally twice a day, who presented to the hospital with abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, and new onset seizures. On admission, his serum magnesium level was undetectable. Electrocardiogram showed a new right bundle branch block with a prolonged QT interval. The hypomagnesemia was corrected with aggressive magnesium supplementation and hypomagnesemia resolved only after the PPI was stopped. Neurologic and cardiac abnormalities were corrected. This is a life-threatening case of an undetectable magnesium level strongly associated with PPI use. In critically, ill patients with refractory hypomagnesemia, we advocate considering changing gastrointestinal prophylaxis from a PPI to a histamine-receptor blocker.

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