Serum chloride in the differential diagnosis of hypercalcemia

In hospitalized patients primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT) and neoplasms account for more than 90% of all hypercalcemias. Measurements of parathyroid hormone, particularly when combined with dynamic tests using calcitonin and EDTA have a high specificity and sensitivity in the differential diagnosis of hypercalcemia but are time-consuming and costly for screening purposes. Most chemical autoanalyzers beside serum calcium also measure serum chloride, phosphate and albumin. In order to evaluate how these simple variables could differentiate between HPT and hypercalcemia due to malignant disorders, 110 measurements from HPT subjects and 111 measurements from cancer patients with hypercalcemia were used. Serum chloride was best among the simple variables to separate the two disorders and classified 84% of the hypercalcemic subjects correctly. When serum phosphatase and albumin were added giving the formula (serum chloride-84) x (albumin-15)/phosphate, only 3% of the cancer and 4% of the HPT subjects were misclassified when borderline values (400-500) were excluded (5% of the sample). In conclusion, while other more sensitive and expressive tests exist to establish the cause of hypercalcemia the above mentioned formula is a cheap and easy screening test for a preliminary diagnosis.