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Assessment of renal and skeletal components of hypercalcemia

Calcified Tissue International volume 46, pages S11–S19 (1990)Cite this article

Summary

The management of hypercalcemia of malignancy is guided by assessments of its various components. Since the intestine usually makes no contribution to hypercalcemia under these circumstances, the problem is to measure the net efflux of calcium out of bone and the ability of the kidneys to excrete the unwanted calcium load. Established relationships between serum and urinary calcium excretion rates allow the quantitation of the relative contribution of an impaired glomerular filtration rate, of reduced renal tubular calcium reabsorption, and of increased bone resorption. Since the renal handling of calcium is closely related to that of sodium in the proximal nephron, the rate of sodium excretion is an important variable in these measurements. A practical approach to the separation of hypercalcemia into its renal and skeletal components is described in this article. Examples of how these measurements can be used to assess the responses to various types of therapy for malignancy-associated hypercalcemia are also given.

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  1. Metabolism/Diabetes, City Hospital, Hucknall Road, NG5 1PB, Nottingham, UK

    David J. Hosking

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  1. David J. Hosking
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Hosking, D.J. Assessment of renal and skeletal components of hypercalcemia. Calcif Tissue Int 46, S11–S19 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02553288

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02553288

Keywords

  • Glomerular Filtration Rate
  • Bone Resorption
  • Calcitonin
  • Serum Calcium
  • Hypercalcemia