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NDT Advance Access originally published online on November 15, 2005
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2006 21(1):29-32; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfi268
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© The Author [2005]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Editorial Comment

What serum calcium can tell us and what it can't

Pascal Houillier, Marc Froissart, Gérard Maruani and Anne Blanchard

Paris-Descartes University and School of Medicine, Paris, F75006 France, INSERM U652, Paris, F75006; and Department of Physiology, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, F75015 France

Correspondence and offprint requests to: Pascal Houillier, MD, PhD, Département de Physiologie, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, 20 rue Leblanc, 75015 Paris, France. Email: pascal.houillier@egp.aphp.fr

Keywords: calcium balance; extracellular fluid; serum calcium

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.



   Introduction
 
Disorders in serum [and extracellular fluid (ECF)] calcium concentration are frequent events in clinical practice. Even more frequent are the disorders in calcium balance that occur in a large variety of diseases or pathological conditions. However, whereas it is easy to measure serum calcium concentrations, it is far more difficult to measure calcium balance and body calcium content; therefore, many clinicians are tempted to evaluate the status of calcium balance from the value of serum calcium concentration. As explained in this review, not only is it impossible to predict calcium balance based on serum calcium, but doing so may lead to inadequate and, sometimes, deleterious decisions for the patient.



   Calcium metabolism in healthy adults
 
The body of a healthy adult contains ~25 000 mmol (~1 kg) of calcium, of which >99% is part of the mineral component of bone and <1% (~20 mmol) is in the ECF. The calcium homeostatic system targets not . . . [Full Text of this Article]



   Calcium fluxes in normal adults
 


   Maintaining serum calcium at its equilibrium value
 


   Mechanisms underlying abnormalities in serum calcium
 


   ECF calcium concentration does not depend on calcium balance
 


   ECF calcium concentration and calcium balance in patients with altered renal function
 


   Conclusion
 

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