• José Lam, Patricio Maragaño, Bárbara Lépez, and Loreto Vásquez.
• Servicio de Medicina, Hospital Regional de Talca, Talca, Chile. joslam@mixmail.com
• Rev Med Chil. 2007 Mar 1; 135 (3): 359-64.

AbstractCalcium plays a central role in ventricular function. We report a 37 year-old woman with chronic hypoparathyroidism and hypocalcemia secondary to a thyroidectomy performed when she was 18 years old, as treatment for a Graves Basedow's disease. She did not have previous cardiac symptoms and rapid progressive congestive heart failure developed after the beginning of levothyroxin supplementation for post operative hypothyroidism. Echocardiography revealed severe systolic and diastolic left ventricular dysfunction, mitral and tricuspid valve insufficiency, systolic pulmonary hypertension, left atrial enlargement and pericardial effusion. Calcium supplementation in addition to diuretics, captopril and digoxin were followed by rapid clinical improvement. Follow up until 18 months showed persistent left ventricular dilatation and systolic dysfunction, with improvement of all the other echocardiographic findings.

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