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Does magnesium offer any additional benefit in patients having anti-arrhythmic treatment for atrial fibrillation following cardiac surgery?

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Freeman Hospital, Freeman Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE7 7DN, UK

*Corresponding author. Tel.:/fax: +44 780 1548122.

E-mail address: joeldunning{at}doctors.org.uk (J. Dunning).

A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether treatment with magnesium in addition to an anti-arrhythmic is beneficial to patients who have gone into atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. Altogether 466 papers were identified using the below mentioned search, of which 8 papers presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, journal, date and country of publication, patient group, relevant outcomes and weaknesses were tabulated. We conclude that while the literature on magnesium prophylaxis and non-cardiac surgical studies on magnesium therapy for atrial fibrillation suggest that magnesium may be of benefit, there are currently no studies in post-cardiac surgery atrial fibrillation to support the use of magnesium therapy for these patients.

Key Words: Evidence-based medicine; Thoracic surgery; Magnesium; Atrial fibrillation

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				J. Dunning, T. Treasure, M. Versteegh, S. A.M. Nashef, and on behalf of the EACTS Audit and Guidelines Commit Guidelines on the prevention and management of de novo atrial fibrillation after cardiac and thoracic surgery Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., December 1, 2006; 30(6): 852 - 872. [Full Text] [PDF]