title: Pre-operative peroral zinc supplementation.
abstract: 37 adult surgical patients were given peroral pre-operative zinc supplementation and changes in serum zinc concentration were followed for the first five post-operative days. The serum zinc level increased from 15.5 +/- 2.2 mumol/l to 18.7 +/- 2.9 mumol/l (p less than 0.001) after preoperative zinc treatment. It was found that the magnitude of the post-operative fall in serum zinc did not decrease, but that the mean serum zinc concentration post-operatively did not fall below the pre-operative serum zinc level in the average population. The effect of pre-operative supplementation was less pronounced in elderly patients, expecially after transvesical prostatectomy.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013607:Tablets; D013997:Time Factors; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D013607:Tablets; D015032:Zinc