Hypocalcemia in the Critically Ill: A Mini-Review

Abstract

In this mini-review of hypocalcemia in the critically ill patient historical and new insights in the function of the PTH-vitamin D axis are discussed Special attention is given to the role of locally tissue produced calcitriol in the immune system and in the inflammatory cytokine response of the vitamin D deficiënt critically ill patient.Future directions in this research area and in the forthcoming research on the use of the anabolic recombinant PTH analogues in critical care medicine are discussed.