Abstract
Author(s): Manjula Shantaram1, Geetha Bhaktha1, Neevan DâSouza2and Ashwini S. Shetty3
Hypercalcemia is the most common life-threatening metabolic disorder associated with neoplastic diseases, occurring in an estimated upto 20% of all adults with cancer. Solid tumors, such as lung or breast cancers as well as certain hematologic malignancies (particularly multiple myeloma) are most frequently associated with hypercalcemia.Although the clinical importance of PTH(parathyroid hormone) and vitamin D and the resulting concentration of calcium in the serum are widely known, the role of urine calcium testing is not often discussed and is less obvious. This study was undertaken to get a direction towards simple, non invasive method of predicting prognosis of solid cancers byestimating urinary calcium in relation to urinary creatinine. Spot urine samples from29 cancer patients and 28 healthy controls were obtained for the study. Spectrophotometric estimation of urinary calcium was carried out using O –Cresolphthalein complexone method. There was a significant difference in the median ratio of calcium in the urine samples of the cancer patients which was expressed in relation to urine creatinine. The cancer patients who were in advanced stages showed the ratio of urine calcium: urine creatinine more than 0.2 indicating hypercalcemia.Hence, urine calcium can be measured as a predictive marker in advanced stages of certain solid cancers.