Serum electrolytes in protein malnutrition and their reflection on the clinical electrocardiographic findings

Serum electrolytes have been assessed in 40 Egyptian infants and young children presenting with the classical features of the protein malnutrition syndrome (P.M.N.S.). The results have been revised in the light of the clinical and electrocardiographic (E.C.G.) findings. The study revealed a characteristic and not an uncommon electrocardiographic pattern which we termed the embryonic or foetal pattern. The consensus is offered that such pattern is probably the result of the diminutive size of the cardiac muscle (microcardia) rather than of the special electrolyte changes. Hypotonia and muscle weakness may likewise be ascribed chiefly to the atrophy of the muscles rather than the changes in the electrolytes, the latter being on the whole low grade changes. The therapeutic regimen should however include, beside proteins, all elements essential for muscle rebuilding including ample electrolytes. This is probably the basis for the favourable and more rapid response claimed by magnesium therapy.