Medical emergencies associated with disorders of calcium homeostasis.

Medical emergencies due to severe hypercalcaemia and hypocalcaemia are relatively rare in clinical practice. 89 cases of hypercalcaemia were seen during 1975-1987 and 16 presented as medical emergencies; renal colic (7) acute renal failure (3), spontaneous fractures (3), acute pancreatitis (1), cardiac arrhythmia (1) and acute hypercalcaemic crisis resulting in death (1). 81 cases of severe hypocalcaemia were seen during the same period. 22 presented initially as epileptic seizures with one ending fatally due to status epilepticus. The other emergencies were severe laryngeal stridor and inability to speak (7), papilloedema (3) and acute behavioural disorder (4). A few illustrative cases have been briefly described.