Milk and alkali tetany

Type of article: Letter to the Editor

Satendra Singh, Department of Physiology, Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, 124001, India. E-mail: dr.satendra [at] gmail [dot] com

Received 14 January 2008; accepted 16 January 2008

In agreement with the author [1], I would like to add that though hypocalcemia is a common cause of tetany, an excess of phosphate (high phosphate-to-calcium ratio) could also trigger muscular spasms. Milk-and-alkali tetany is an example of this imbalance. [2]

References:

[1] Prakash ES. What is the difference between tetanus and tetany? Medical Physiology Online [serial online] article 3; volume 1: 2008; available from http://www.medicalphysiologyonline.org, [link to the article] accessed 14 January 2008.

[2] Goetz AA. Milk-alkali syndrome with jaundice and tetany. California Medicine 1958; 89: 136-139.

Conflict of interest: none

Please cite this letter as: Singh S. Milk and alkali tetany. Medical Physiology Online [serial online] article 3.1; volume 1: 2008; available from http://medicalphysiologyonline.blogspot.com [Link]

Reviewed by E.S.Prakash, Editor, Medical Physiology Online.