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Hypocalcemia as a Cause of Reversible Cardiomyopathy with Ventricular Tachycardia
- Chandrakant B. Chavan, MD, DNB;
- Kalavakolanu Sharada, MD, DM;
- Hygriv B. Rao, MD, DM; and
- Calambur Narsimhan, MD, DM, AB
- From CARE Hospital and the Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, India.
Background: Hypocalcemia is a rare cause of heart failure.
Objective: To describe a case of severe refractory heart failure caused by vitamin D deficiency and hypocalcemia.
Case Report: A 48-year-old male physician with diabetes and hypertension was referred to our institution for insertion of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. He had New York Heart Association class IV heart failure symptoms at presentation, including recurrent episodic palpitations with presyncope and increasing breathlessness over 2 months. He had no history of fever. On examination, his temperature was 36.8 °C, pulse was 92 beats/min, arterial blood pressure was 110/70 mm Hg, and respiratory rate was 34 breaths/min. He had a left ventricular (LV) third heart sound (S3). Chest radiography on admission showed cardiomegaly and pulmonary venous hypertension (Figure 1). He …
