A low blood calcium level, or hypocalcemia, may occur in cancer patients. Reversing hypocalcemia requires an understanding and treatment of the underlying cause. Feedback loops, involving parathyroid hormone, vitamin D and calcitonin, control the regulation of calcium in your body. Other factors affecting your calcium level are blood levels of magnesium, phosphorus and protein. Once your oncologist determines the underlying cause of your hypocalcemia, he can work to improve your calcium level.
Step 1
Talk to your dietitian about your nutrition if your serum albumin levels are low. Although only 1 percent of calcium occurs outside the bones, 40 percent of that calcium is bound to the protein albumin. Low albumin can result in a low calcium level. Poor nutrition is common in cancer patients, either from the disease or from poor appetite.
Step 2
Go to the hospital for intravenous magnesium treatment if the hypocalcemia is secondary to low magnesium. Low magnesium may result from chemotherapy or occur from chronic diarrhea due to cancer therapy or the cancer itself.
Step 3
Use the calcium supplements prescribed by your doctor when low calcium results from "hungry bone syndrome." Bone cancers or bone metastases can result in low calcium due to bone mineralization.
Step 4
Take doctor-prescribed oral phosphate binders when hypocalcemia is secondary to high phosphate, or hyperphosphatemia. Hyperphosphatemia can occur in patients with acute leukemia or lymphomas.
Step 5
Treat hypocalcemia caused by vitamin D disorders with doctor-prescribed vitamin D supplements. Colon cancer is one cause of intestinal fat malabsorption, the outcome of which is low vitamin D and, secondarily, low calcium.
Step 6
Use doctor-prescribed magnesium supplements if the low calcium is secondary to low magnesium, or hypomagnesemia. The chemotherapy medication cisplatinum can result in hypomagnesemia and low calcium.
