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Case Reports
. 2024 Jun 28:11:1394601.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1394601. eCollection 2024.

Intentional vomiting as a rare cause of hypercalcemia and consequent acute renal failure: a case report

Mihovil Santini  1 , Ana Sorić  2 , Pavao Mioč  3 , Siniša Car  3 , Kristijan Đula  3 , Ivan Zeljkovic  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Intentional vomiting as a rare cause of hypercalcemia and consequent acute renal failure: a case report

Mihovil Santini et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Two most common causes of elevated serum calcium levels, which together account for nearly 90% of all cases, are primary hyperparathyroidism and malignancy. Thus, it is necessary to consider other disorders in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with hypercalcemia. We report the case of a 40-year-old female patient with an intellectual disability who was admitted to the Emergency Department with severe symptomatic hypercalcemia and acute renal failure, caused by recurrent intentional vomiting. The aim of this report is to help clinicians make an accurate diagnosis by considering recurrent vomiting habits as a potential cause of hypercalcemia and acute renal failure. Our case provides a comprehensive diagnostic work-up and multidisciplinary treatment strategies for patients with symptomatic hypercalcemia.

Keywords: acute renal failure; bulimia; dehydration; hypercalcemia; vomiting.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Figure 1
Timetable of the diagnostic work-up.
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