title: Altered mental status and hematemesis in a child with hypercalcemia.
abstract: Altered mental status in a child is a potentially life-threatening condition with a broad differential including vascular, toxin-mediated, infectious, metabolic, and traumatic causes. Hypercalcemia is a rare cause of altered mental status in children. We report a case of a 13-month-old boy with familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia who presented to our emergency department with altered mental status and hematemesis. Familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia is a rare cause of hypercalcemia that usually presents with asymptomatic hypercalcemia. This case illustrates the presentation of severe hypercalcemia and reviews the initial management and evaluation of hypercalcemia in children.
authors.affiliation: Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. wolffm@email.chop.edu
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D003244:Consciousness Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D006396:Hematemesis / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D006934:Hypercalcemia / Q000150:complications / Q000151:congenital* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male