Articles on Medical Diseases and Conditions

In confirmed hypercalcemia, differential diagnosis is usually among PHPT, malignancy (metastatic to bone or the ectopic PTH syndrome), and all other etiologies. In most cases the differential eventually resolves into PHPT versus hypercalcemia of malignancy (HCM). There is no single laboratory test that can distinguish between PHPT and HCM every time with certainty. As noted […]

Serum calcium. Routine serum calcium assay measures the total serum calcium value. Total serum calcium contains about 50% bound calcium (literature range, 35%-55%) and about 50% nonbound calcium (literature range, 35%-65%). (Traditionally, nonbound calcium was called “ionized” calcium and is also known as “free” or “dialyzable” calcium.) Bound calcium is subdivided into calcium bound to […]

Symptoms referable to hypercalcemia itself are very nonspecific; they include vomiting, constipation, polydipsia and polyuria, and mental confusion. Coma may develop in severe cases. There may be renal stones or soft tissue calcification. Hypercalcemia is most often detected on routine multitest biochemical screening panels, either in asymptomatic persons or incidental to symptoms from some disease […]