A longstanding hungry bone syndrome

Hungry bone syndrome is a common sequelae of parathyroid surgery. The phenomenon is caused by severe osteitis fibrosa cystica causing rapid remineralization of the bones. We describe a case of hungry bone syndrome with profound and longstanding hypocalcemia after parathyroid surgery that was very resistant to treatment. Despite large amounts of oral and intravenous calcium supplementation with calcitriol, it required 21 weeks for serum Ca to reach normal levels.