Hypomagnesemia After Cisplatin Containing Combinatiion Chemmotherapy

The development of hypomagnesemia was investigated retrospectively in 25 patients with malignancy treated with cisplatin containing combination at the first time. Serum magnesium levels were measured 1 day after completion of cisplatin infusion. The most common type of cancer was lung cancer(9 patients) followed ny gastric cancer(5 patients), pancreas cancer, unknown prinary cancer(2 patients, respectively) and so on. EP(etoposide, cisplatin)was the most frequently administered regimen. Five patients had previous history of chemotherapy. While 10 patients received cisplatin dose of 80 mg/m²(body surface area) or more, 15 patients received less than mg/m². The mean serum magnesium concentration after chemotherapy was 1.93±0.25mg/dl(1.5-2.6mg/dl), and 8 patients(32.0%) developed hypomagnesemia(<1.9mg/sl). The incidence of hypomagnesemia showed no correlation among age of patients, dose of cisplatin, history of previous chemotherapy and regimens of chemotherapy. The serum potassium concentration after chemotherapy was not statistically different compared with that of before chemotherapy. There was no episode of symptomatic hypomagnesemia. In conclusion, hypomagnesemia is relatively common side effect of cisplatin infusion, therefore, frequent measurement of serum magnesium concentration should be mandatory in patients redeiving cisplatin containing chemotherapy.