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Many textbooks recommend saline and furosemide as first-line management for hypercalcemia. Investigators searched the literature since 1950 for studies of furosemide or bisphosphonate use for hypercalcemia in people.
They identified nine reports — the most recent from 1983 — involving 37 patients treated with furosemide for hypercalcemia; doses ranged from 240 mg to 2400 mg. Calcium normalized in 14 of 39 episodes, and within 12 hours in only two cases. Intensive monitoring was accompanied by replacement of fluid and electrolyte losses. Complications included hypernatremia, coma, metabolic acidosis, hypophosphatemia and hypomagnesemia, altered mental status, and tetany.
Investigators identified 56 clinical studies of bisphosphonates — 34 were…