Symptomatic hypercalcemia due to painless thyroiditis after unilateral adrenalectomy in a patient with Cushing's syndrome.
We report a 53-year-old woman with Cushing's syndrome due to an adrenocortical adenoma, who underwent unilateral adrenalectomy and developed symptomatic hypercalcemia during the thyrotoxic period of painless thyroiditis, while tapering off a daily supplemented dose of cortisol. A study of patients with thyrotoxicosis and hypoadrenalism at our institute revealed that mild hypercalcemia was present in 9.9% of those with thyrotoxicosis and 5.0% of those with hypoadrenalism. The present case suggests that the simultaneous occurrence of thyrotoxicosis and hypoadrenalism may lead to overt hypercalcemia due to a synergistic increase in bone resorption and impaired urinary excretion of calcium.
Kimura
Hironari
H
Department of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Endocrinology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo.
Sato
Kanji
K
Nishimaki
Momoko
M
Miki
Nobuhiro
N
Ono
Masami
M
Takano
Kazue
K
D000306:Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D000315:Adrenalectomy; D018246:Adrenocortical Adenoma / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D001862:Bone Resorption / Q000378:metabolism; D002118:Calcium / Q000652:urine; D003480:Cushing Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006934:Hypercalcemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D013966:Thyroiditis / Q000150:complications*
D002118:Calcium