Hypoparathyroidism - disease update and emerging treatments.

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is the primary regulator of blood calcium levels and bone metabolism. Insufficient levels of PTH lead to hypoparathyroidism, characterized by low serum calcium and elevated serum phosphate levels. It is most commonly caused by the inadvertent damage to the parathyroid glands during thyroid surgery. Patients with hypoparathyroidism are currently being treated with oral calcium and active vitamin D, and to avoid worsening hypercalciuria, target serum calcium levels are within the lower end of normal. With current treatment, patients may suffer from large swings in serum calcium and are at a substantial risk of chronic renal failure, nephrocalcinosis, and kidney stones. The recent FDA approval of recombinant human (rh) PTH(1-84) for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism adds PTH replacement therapy to the endocrinologist's armamentarium to treat this chronic disease.