Neurologic complications of hypercalcemia and hypocalcemia
What are the neurologic complications of hypercalcemia and hypocalcemia?
Hypercalcemia (>12 mg/dL) leads commonly to symptoms of progressive encephalopathy and coma and more rarely to seizures or signs of corticobulbar, corticospinal, or cerebellospinal tract dysfunction.
Elevated serum calcium may also produce weakness due to reduced membrane excitability at the level of the neuromuscular junction and may possibly cause a reversible myopathy.
Hypocalcemia often presents with circumoral numbness, tetany, paresthesias, seizures, and changes in mental status.
Some patients develop parkinsonism after prolonged hypocalcemia. In chronic hypoglycemia, there can be calcification of the basal ganglia.
Increased excitability at the neuromuscular junction with reduced serum calcium may manifest as tetany.
