A Case of Milk-Alkali Syndrome Due to Calcium Carbonate Overdose / 대한신장학회잡지

ABSTRACT

Milk-Alkali syndrome can be caused by ingesting large amount of calcium and absorbable alkali. Coincident with promotion of calcium therapy for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with chronic renal failure, the Milk-Alkali syndrome is now a common cause of hypercalcemia. We experienced a case of a woman who had took calcium for hypoparathyroidism after thyroidectomy (and incidental parathyroidectomy) for thyroid papillary adenocarcinoma. Recently she ingested unusually large amount of calcium (10.8 g/day) for a week mistakenly. She presented voiding difficulty, anorexia and irritability with the triad of hypercalcemia, metabolic alkalosis and acute renal failure. All the metabolic abnormalities were normalized and renal function was improved with fluid and diuretic therapies.