An 18-year-old negroid woman presented with progressive cramps in both hands. She was Jamaican and had moved to The Netherlands 8 months before. On physical examination Trousseau's sign was positive. Laboratory analysis showed severe hypocalcaemia (1.17 mmol/L) and hyperphosphatemia (2.0 mmol/L). Urinary excretion of both calcium (0.8 mmol/day) and phosphate (5 mmol/day) was low, as is seen in ...

Accepted for publication 20 January 1995 Abstract Objective-To investigate changes in the electrocardiographic QT interval during rapidly induced, sustained hypocalcaemia in healthy volunteers. Design-Serial rate corrected QT measurements were made during and after a variable rate trisodium citrate infusion designed to "clamp" the whole blood ionised calcium concentration 0-20 mmol/l below base...

BACKGROUND Regional citrate anticoagulation is a very effective anticoagulation method for haemodialysis. However, it is not widely used, primarily due to the risk of hypocalcaemia. We studied citrate and calcium kinetics to better understand safety aspects of this anticoagulation method. METHODS During 15 haemodialysis treatments with a calcium-free dialysis solution, citrate was infused pre...

Background A rare but reversible cause of dilated cardiomyopathy occurs in infants born to vitamin D deficient mothers due to hypocalcaemia. Case Report We report a case of dilated cardiomyopathy due to hypocalcaemia secondary to maternal vitamin D deficiency in an infant presented with seizure disorder and heart failure. This was a four-month old female infant with respiratory distress and a...