Magnesium is the second more abundant intracellular cation of the human body after potassium, being essential in great number of enzymatic and metabolic processes. Is a cofactor of all the enzymatic reactions that involve the ATP and comprises of the membrane that maintains the electrical excitability of the muscular and nervous cells. A low magnesium level is found in malabsortion syndrome, diuretic or aminoglucoside therapy; hyperparathyroidism or diabetic acidosis.

Elevated concentration of magnesium is found in uremia, chronic renal failure, glomerulonephritis, Addisons’s disease or intensive anti acid therapy1,4,5. Clinical diagnosis should not be made on a single test result; it should integrate clinical and other laboratory data..