Hypercalcemia in patients in the burn intensive care unit.
Although patients with burns are known to develop hypocalcemia, the development of hypercalcemia has also been reported in a few patients in the burn intensive care unit. Here, the incidence of hypercalcemia in the burn unit of a single institution is reviewed. The records of all patients admitted to the burn intensive care unit over a period of 4 years of a single institution were reviewed. When looking at a select group of burn patients who have been hospitalized for more than 4 weeks, an unusually high incidence of hypercalcemia was found, especially in patients with renal failure (because of decreased renal clearance, patients with renal failure are prone to hypercalcemia if another inciting factor is present). As previously reported, the hypercalcemia in our patients was consistent with hypercalcemia caused by immobilization. We also observed that mortality correlated with higher calcium levels.
Sam
Ramin
R
Division of Nephrology, John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA.
Vaseemuddin
Mohammad
M
Siddique
Asim
A
Haghighat
Leila
L
Kazlauskaite
Rasa
R
An
Gary
G
Hanumadass
Marella L
ML
D000418:Albumins; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications*; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006934:Hypercalcemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D007087:Illinois / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors
D000418:Albumins; D002118:Calcium