title: Correction of respiratory acidosis and transient hypomagnesemia.
abstract: Four elderly patients with established chronic obstructive airways disease were admitted with a days' to weeks' history of increasing dyspnea. Acute respiratory acidosis was diagnosed and mechanical ventilation instituted. A few hours after initiation of treatment, arterial pH was normal in all patients, but serum magnesium concentrations decreased over the next 1-3 days. Thereafter, a spontaneous normalization was seen. It is suggested that the transient hypomagnesemia is due to correction of the acidosis per se.
mesh_terms: D000142:Acidosis, Respiratory / Q000628:therapy*; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008275:Magnesium Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012121:Respiration, Artificial