The effects of intravenous magnesium sulfate on hemodynamic status and pain control in patients after laparotomy surgery: A double blind clinical trial

Aims and background: A major surgery such as a laparotomy can induce severe pain in a patient. However administration of pain control medications can have dramatic effects on the hemodynamic status of the patient. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate intravenous infusion of magnesium sulfate for pain control and its’ effect on the hemodynamic status of the patient after laparotomy surgery. In this clinical trial , 80 patients undergoing laparotomy surgery were randomly classified into intervention and control groups based on exclusion and inclusion criteria. The intervention group received a bolus of magnesium sulfate 50 mg /kg half an hour before surgery, and then an infusion of 500 mg /hr. for 24 hours after surgery. P <0.05 was considered significant. Findings: No significant difference was seen before and after surgery between the intervention and control groups regarding hemodynamic status or pain severity up to 6 hours after surgery. However by 6 hours after surgery, the severity of pain in the intervention group was lower than in the control group. This difference was statistically significant (P = 0.01). Magnesium sulfate has little effect on the hemodynamics of the patients undergoing surgery, but also was not effective for the control of pain in the first hours after surgery However six hours after surgery a pain control effect was noted