ADVANCES IN THE TREATMENT OF HYPERCALCEMIA - THE VETERINARY PERSPECTIVE

摘要

Most patients are initially determined to have hypercalcemia based on evaluation of serum total calcium. Adverse effects of circulating calcium only occur when increased ionized calcium is the cause of the increased total serum calcium. There is considerable diagnostic discordance in the ability of serum total calcium to predict true ionized calcium status in both dogs and cats, so ionized calcium should be used as the gold standard to determine if the hypercalcemia is a damaging one or not. The magnitude of the hypercalcemia, its rate of development, whether the serum calcium concentration is stable or increasing, and the modifying effects of other electrolyte and acid-base imbalances must be considered while developing a treatment plan. The clinical condition of the animal based on history and physical examination ultimately dictates how aggressive treatment should be.