title: Symptomatic Hypercalcemia in a Patient with B-cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia - A Case Report and Review of the Literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypercalcemia due to malignancy is well described in the literature and a common paraneoplastic finding in certain solid tumors. Hematologic malignancies, however, are less frequently associated with hypercalcemia with the exception of myelomas and T-cell lymphomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  This case report describes a patient with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) who developed symptomatic hypercalcemia. None of the pathogenetic mechanisms of malignancy-associated hypercalcemia already described in the literature could explain the pathogenesis of hypercalcemia in our patient. Calcium levels were normalized after initial treatment and remained within normal limits following treatment of the underlying B-CLL. The follow-up period was 26 months. The normalization of calcium levels was closely associated with the drop in the absolute lymphocyte count.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Symptomatic hypercalcemia in B-CLL is exceedingly rare and only documented a few times in the literature. Hypercalcemia, in the present case, was not caused by any of the mechanisms already described in the literature and responded well to treatment of the underlying B-CLL.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY, U.S.A. koutroe@mail.amc.edu.
authors: Efstratios
authors: E
authors: Koutroumpakis
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY, U.S.A.
authors: Montgomery
authors: M
authors: Lobe
authors: Department of Pathology, Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Albany, NY, U.S.A.
authors: Lezah
authors: L
authors: McCarthy
authors: Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Albany, NY, U.S.A.
authors: Syed
authors: S
authors: Mehdi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D006934:Hypercalcemia / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D010257:Paraneoplastic Syndromes / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: B-cell lymphocytic leukemia; Hypercalcemia; malignancy