Intractable hypercalcaemia due to parathyroid hormone-related peptide secretion by a carcinoid tumour

Hypercalcaemia, a common complication of malignancy, may result from either the lytic effect of multiple osseous metastases or the effect of tumour-derived humoral factors. Excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP), a major cause of humoral hypercalcaemia of malignancy, has been incriminated as the cause of hypercalcaemia in patients with lung, breast, renal, head and neck and, occasionally, haematological malignancies. Carcinoid tumours, while frequently the source of ectopic hormone secretion, are infrequently associated with hypercalcaemia. We report the case of a 59-year-old woman with fulminant hypercalcaemia due to excessive PTHrP secretion from a hepatic carcinoid and we present the change in her serum PTHrP concentrations during infusion of a somatostatin analogue.