Hypercalcemia in Bronchogenic Carcinoma

Abstract

The relation of hypercalcemia, histologic cell type, and osseous neoplastic involvement was studied in 200 consecutive patients with untreated bronchogenic carcinoma. The overall frequency of hypercalcemia was 12.5%. Twenty-three percent of patients with epidermoid carcinoma, 12.7% with large-cell anaplastic carcinoma, 2.5% with adenocarcinoma, and none with small-cell carcinoma presented with or developed hypercalcemia. Fourteen of 25 patients (56%) with elevated calcium did not have osseous metastases. Osseous involvement was most frequently observed in patients with small-cell carcinoma (66%) and adenocarcinoma (50%). The data indicate that hypercalcemia is predominantly associated with epidermoid and large-cell anaplastic carcinoma and uncommonly associated with adenocarcinoma and small-cell carcinoma, even though the latter two cell types are most frequently associated with osseous metastases.