HE MANAGEMENT of hypercalcemia often T constitutes a major medical problem in patients with cancer. Hypercalcemia has been described as a complication of disseminated cancer in bones. 1 ~1 2 .
* and more recently as a complication of cancer in which no invasion of bone can be demonstrated.'. 19 Since treatment with cortisone has resulted in objective regression in some neoplasms161 17 and has also proved to be effective in the reversal of hypercalcemia in certain nonmalignant disorders?* ** * the present study was undertaken to evaluate its effectiveness in the treatment of hypercalcemia of neoplastic origin.
The clinical material and the maximum changes in serum and urinary calcium o h served as a result of cortisone treatment are summarized in Table 1. The types of neoplasms treated included carcinomas of the kidney and breast, metastatic adenocarcinoma of undetermined origin, lymphosarcoma, multiple myeloma, and rhabdomyosarcoma of testicular origin. All but patient I.C. had bone metastases demonstrable roentgenographically, and all were maintained on low calcium diets (about 200 mg. per day) during the study. Twenty-four-hour urinary calcium determinations (method of Fiske and Logane) were made daily, and serum calcium measurements (method of Clark and Collip2) were carried out 2 to 3 times per week. A response to treatment was recorded as positive if the levels