Abstract
To the Editor.— In their short review of the treatment of hypercalcemia, Newmark and Himathongkam (230: 1438, 1974) recommend the intravenous administration of inorganic phosphate. The risk of ectopic calcification as a consequence of the treatment was only touched on, not warned against. In several articles, serious side effects have been described. 1-5 Goldsmith and Ingbar, 6 proponents of phosphate therapy, made autopsy observations of ectopic calcifications in five of seven phosphate-treated patients. In a later report they recommended avoidance of this therapy in patients with increased serum phosphate concentration and decreased kidney function. 7 Tubular calcification as a consequence of phosphate infusions in hypercalcemic patients leading to decreased glomerular filtration rate is to be considered an extremely serious and sometimes fatal complication. Bernheim and Vischer 1 observed an increase of serum creatinine concentration, from 8 to 116 mg/liter, in a patient with estrogen-induced hypercalcemia treated with a 100-millimol phosphate
Published Version
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