[Serum calcium evaluation and incidence of primary hyperparathyroidism in hospitalized patients (author's transl)]

Automated laboratory procedures have made possible to "screen" a large population for specific biochemical abnormalities. Primitive hyperparathyroidism is for several respects an excellent disease model for testing "mass screening". Il is often asymptomatic, not uncommon, and is manifested by abnormalities in the levels of serum calcium and inorganic phosphorus, that can be detected cheaply with automated equipment. A computer program has been developed to screen patients with hypercalcaemia. During a period of 18 months 22720 hospitalized patients were investigated by the evaluation of serum calcium, and 80 hypercalcaemic patients were found. The diagnosis of primary hyperparathyroidism was established in 24 patients (in 19 histologically confirmed) so that the incidence of primary hyperparathyroidism (1,05%) compares favorably with that reported from some foreign Authors.