title: Association between Hypophosphatemia and Cardiac Arrhythmias in the Early Stage of Sepsis: Could Phosphorus Replacement Treatment Reduce the Incidence of Arrhythmias?
abstract: It is well known that new-onset arrhythmias are common in septic patients. It is thought that hypophosphatemia in the early stages of sepsis may contribute to the development of new arrhythmias. In this study, we hypothesized that intravenous (IV) phosphorus replacement may reduce the incidence of arrhythmias in critically ill patients. 34 adult septic patients with hypophosphatemia admitted to the general intensive care unit were treated with IV phosphorus replacement per ICU protocol, and the incidence of new arrhythmias were compared with 16 patients from previously published data. IV phosphorus replacement was associated with a significantly reduced incidence of arrhythmias (38% vs. 63%, p=0.04). There were no differences in observed mortality between subgroups, which may be due to the small sample size. This study demonstrated that IV phosphorus replacement might be effective in reducing the incidence of new arrhythmias in septic patients.
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, General Intensive Care Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Andrei
authors: A
authors: Schwartz
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, General Intensive Care Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Evgeni
authors: E
authors: Brotfain
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, General Intensive Care Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Leonid
authors: L
authors: Koyfman
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, General Intensive Care Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Ruslan
authors: R
authors: Kutz
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors: Shaun E
authors: SE
authors: Gruenbaum
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, General Intensive Care Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Moti
authors: M
authors: Klein
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, General Intensive Care Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Zlotnik
keywords: Cardiac arrhythmias; Critical care; Hypophosphatemia; Phosphorus replacement