[Hypomagnesemia with magnesium-dependent hypocalcemia and hypopotassemia in a case of alcoholic cirrhosis].

An account of the main causes of low blood magnesium and the predominant rôle of this ion in the organism is followed by the description of a case of encephalopathy due to magnesium deficiency in a chronic alcoholic with cirrhosis of the liver. This neuropsychological condition, together with its concomitant low blood calcium and potassium, rapidly regressed when magnesium sulphate was administered. Stress is laid on the desirability of giving attention to and preventing the onset of this electrolytic alteration in clinical practive.