A multicentre survey of serum calcium levels in patients with malignant diseases.
Serum calcium and albumin levels were measured in 255 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of malignant disease. The average serum calcium and albumin levels were similar to those reported in an earlier larger American survey. Only 6/255 patients were above the normal range of corrected serum calcium and one patient was sufficiently hypercalcaemic (corrected serum calcium at least 2.8 mmol/L) to be included in a trial of oral clodronate therapy. The incidence of hypercalcaemia in this survey is considerably lower than that reported in the published literature (5-10%). A much larger proportion of patients (21/255) were hypocalcaemic. Serum albumin was depressed in 25/255 cases and elevated in 2/255 cases.
Edwards
J C
JC
Dept of Medical Operations, Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd., Dublin.
Carney
D N
DN
Daly
P A
PA
McCann
S
S
D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006934:Hypercalcemia / Q000209:etiology; D006996:Hypocalcemia / Q000209:etiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis
D012709:Serum Albumin; D002118:Calcium