Hypercalcemia in the accelerated phase of chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Within a recent one-year period, 3 patients in the accelerated phase of chronic myelogenous leukemia were admitted to our medical center with severe hypercalcemia. Simultaneous determinations of ionized calcium and parathyroid hormone levels in 2 of the patients confirmed the hypercalcemia and revealed suppression of parathyroid hormone. We conclude that hypercalcemia in the accelerated phase of chronic myelogeneous leukemia may be more common than previously described and is not mediated by parathyroid hormone. An elevated parathyroid hormone level accompanying hypercalcemia in these patients should suggest the additional diagnosis of primary hyperparathyroidism. Mithramycin was necessary for control in 2 of our cases as well as in others reported in the medical literature and should be an early therapeutic consideration whenever saline diuresis is inadequate.