PARTIAL HYPOPARATHYROIDISM - A VARIANT OF TRANSIENT CONGENITAL HYPOPARATHYROIDISM

We encountered three children who had neonatal hypocalcemia followed by a period of normocalcemia and recurrence of hypocalcemia later in childhood. They were full-term infants with normal birth weights who developed hypocalcemia within the first 48 hours after birth. The hypocalcemia resolved in 1 week, 3 months, and 14 months in the three patients. The recurrences of hypocalcemia occurred at 4, 7, and 12 years of age. Their plasma parathyroid hormone concentrations were consistently low but detectable. We suggest that partial hypoparathyroidism is the underlying abnormality in these patients and that neonatal hypocalcemia in otherwise healthy infants indicates the need for calcium measurements during childhood and adolescence.