B isphosphonates are increasingly being incorporated in the management of patients with breast cancer.[1] With wider adoption of bisphosphonates, the incidence of some rare complications like hypocalcaemia might go up, particularly in vitamin D deficient populations. Here we would like to share our experience of managing a patient, who developed symptomatic hypocalcaemia after intravenous (IV) ...

In this study 201 elderly patients with femoral neck fractures were compared with 30 osteomalacic patients with the same injury. Hypocalcaemia and a raised alkaline phosphatase level are common biochemical abnormalities in elderly patients with femoral neck fractures. In only a minority of patients, however, were they associated with histologically proven osteomalacia. By using the combination ...

Presentation characteristics were reviewed in 14 children from 12 families with malignant infantile osteopetrosis seen at two large referral centres for bone marrow transplantation. Children from six of these families presented initially with symptoms of hypocalcaemia. These comprised early or late neonatal convulsions in six cases (corrected serum calcium < 1.5 mmol/l), and vomiting and irrita...

Although hypercalcaemia is often encountered during the course of malignant disease, hypocalcaemia appears to be rather rare. We describe a 37-year-old patient with metastatic carcinoma of the breast, who developed extreme hypocalcaemia (as low as 0.75 mmol calcium per litre) after chemotherapy. This is caused by a combination of hungry-bone syndrome and an insufficient parathyroid response. Th...

This report describes two cases of Di-George syndrome presenting with hypoparathyroidism in adulthood. The first patient presented with profound hypocalcaemia that resulted in a generalised seizure. Routine investigations revealed hypoparathyroidism. The clue to her underlying condition was the postnatal death of her young child. This case shows that Di-George syndrome can present in adulthood ...

INTRODUCTION Intravenous calcium gluconate has been used to prevent postoperative hypocalcaemia (POH) following parathyroidectomy for secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronic kidney disease (CKD). MATERIALS AND METHODS Retrospective data were obtained for 36 patients with CKD stage 4 and 5 after parathyroid surgery, correlating albumin-corrected serum calcium with the infusion rate of calcium...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of truncal ligation of the inferior thyroid arteries during bilateral subtotal thyroidectomy on the incidence of hypocalcaemia after thyroidectomy. DESIGN Prospective non-randomised study. SETTING Teaching hospital, Turkey. SUBJECTS 216 patients who had bilateral subtotal thyroidectomy for non-toxic nodular goitre between 1990 and 1996. INTERVENTIONS The t...

OBJECTIVE Hypocalcaemia is a frequently arising complication following total thyroidectomy. Routine postoperative prophylactic administration of vitamin D or metabolites and calcium reduce the incidence of symptomatic hypocalcaemia; this article reports evaluating its cost-effectiveness in Colombia. METHODS Meta-analysis was used for comparing the administration of vitamin D or metabolites to...

AIMS To describe the various ways in which vitamin D deficiency presents in children in selected districts of London and to identify which factors, if any, determine the mode of presentation. METHODS Retrospective review of patients presenting to Newham General, Royal London, Great Ormond Street, and King's College Hospitals between 1996 and 2001 with either hypocalcaemia or rickets caused by...

We present this rare occurrence of a 17 yr old boy, a known case of congenital hypoparathyroidism, who presented with fever and jaundice for 8 days and 2 episodes of generalised tonic-clonic seizures. Premorbidly patient was on regular oral calcium supplementations with normal serum calcium levels. Investigations revealed severe hypocalcaemia (3.2 mg/dL), low 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels and hypo...