ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the medical condition of hypercalcaemia. Hypercalcaemia may occasionally be due to non-malignant causes. Hypercalcaemia is caused by secretion of a tumour peptide called parathormone-releasing protein. It is essential to think about the possibility of hypercalcaemia in all patients with advanced cancer, and especially in those with lung and breast cancer, as these two malignancies account for half of all cases. The cancers most commonly associated with hypercalcaemia are breast, bronchus, myeloma, lymphoma and leukaemia. Most patients with hypercalcaemia have widespread disease and have a prognosis of several months, with an average of 3 to 4 months. Steroids main use is in haematological malignancies, where prednisolone, 40–100 mg daily, is often effective. Bisphosphonates inhibit osteoclast activity, thus correcting the hypercalcaemia, but may take 48 hours to become effective.
