Calcitonin levels in chronic renal disease.

High levels of serum calcitonin were found in patients with chronic renal failure. Serum calcitonin correlated directly with the phosphate to total calcium ratio; calcitonin levels correlated inversely with serum calcium in those patients on dialysis and directly with serum calcium in nondialysis patients. All patients had elevated serum gastrin. The high levels of serum calcitonin usually decreased following successful kidney transplantation. The pathophysiology of this hypercalcitonemia and its relationship to renal osteodystrophy and the disordered calcium metabolism of uremia remains to be elucidated.