Evaluation of Postoperative Electrolyte Imbalance in Maxillofacial Surgery Patients

Electrolytes play a significant role in the regulation of various vital functions in the human body. Changes in electrolyte composition can be pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative. The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence of electrolyte imbalances after a maxillofacial surgery and find possible relationship between imbalances and kind of surgery.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 101 maxillofacial surgery patients admitted to Besat educational hospital were selected by convenience sampling method. Serum electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium) of each patient were measured a day before the operation and on the first and the third post-operative days. The demographic and medical information and also details of the surgery of each patient were documented in checklists, which were used when all the needed data were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 23.0.

Our results showed that, among electrolyte imbalances, hypocalcemia was the most frequent with 26.3%, followed by hyponatremia with 18.7%, and hypermagnesemia with 16.6%, while potassium demonstrated the least changes (6.3%) after a maxillofacial surgery. There was a significant correlation between the body mass index (BMI) and magnesium (P=0.032) and calcium (P=0.021) imbalances (hypo or hyper). Statistical analyses showed that magnesium abnormalities are more common in patients with jaw trauma on the third post-operative day in comparison with first postoperative day (P=0.037).

Hypocalcemia, hyponatremia, and hypermagnesemia are relatively common after maxillofacial surgeries. The findings showed that some factors such as the BMI and etiology of maxillofacial surgeries could cause electrolyte abnormalities after maxillofacial surgery. Identifying these factors could be useful in planning strategies for prevention, diagnosis, and early treatment of possible complications, which, in turn, may result in an improvement in the quality of care.