Parathyroid tumors. Intermittent function, a pitfall in diagnosis.

Seventy cases of functioning parathyroid tumors encountered at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center were reviewed. The clinical and chemical findings in parathyroid tumors were variable and were suggestive of intermittent function. The indirect diagnostic tests available today usually paralleled the basic serum calcium and phosphorus determinations. Urolithiasis was the most common complication observed, but the symptoms of it varied from simple colic and single calculus problem to extensive calculus disease. There were two instances of hyperparathyroid crisis or "hypercalcemic poisoning."