The Use of a Calcium Infusion Test in the Diagnosis of Hyperparathyroidism

Abstract

A parathyroid suppression test, described in 1962 by Kyle et al. (8), was performed in 121 patients examined on the suspicion of primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT). Eighty-two subjects were surgically explored, and in 62 of these the diagnosis HPT was confirmed. The discriminating ability of the test was evaluated separately for patients with hypercalcemia (Ca/s≥5.3 mEq/L) and for patients with serum calcium levels below 5.3 mEq/L. Thirty-two of the 61 subjects without hypercalcemia were surgically explored. In this group of patients the calcium infusion test was of definite predictive value for the outcome of the exploration.

Key Words:

• Calcium
• hyperparathyroidism
• phosphate