Uremic Polyneuropathic Motor Paralysis and Immobilization Hypercalcemia

Abstract

Among 35 patients with chronic uremia and treated with intermittent hemodialysis, reversible hypercalcemia was observed in 7 out of 9 patients with uremic polyneuropathia and distal motor paralysis, but only in 2 out of 24 patients without paralysis. The hypercalcemia appeared in 3 cases in strict connection with immobilization. The patients with distal motor paralysis had a higher mean level of serum calcium, a higher frequency of metastatic calcifications and an increased tendency to progressive osteoporosis. This is regarded as the result of an increased calcium flow from the bones caused by inactivity and immobilization. The assumption that renal insufficiency may be a primary factor in immobilization hypercalcemia is discussed.