A 28-yr-old woman presented with
hypocalcemia,
hypophosphatemia, secondary hyperparthyroidism, and biopsy-proven
osteomalacia despite treatment with
vitamin D2, (17.5 mg/day). Three weeks after
vitamin D2 treatment was stopped, she was found to have a low normal serum
25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and high serum 1 alpha, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(
OH)2D] of 18.6 ng/ml and 21.2 ng/dl, respectively. The fractional intestinal
calcium absorption was low at 0.26. Treatment with 25OHD3 (20--50 micrograms/day) corrected the
hypocalcemia and
secondary hyperparathyroidism, raised intestinal
calcium absorption, and reversed the skeletal lesions of
osteomalacia. Serum 25OHD concentration rose to 51 ng/ml, while 1,25(
OH)2D remained elevated. This case illustrates the probable operation of dual abnormalities in
vitamin D metabolism. An impaired end organ responsiveness to 1,25(
OH)2D was suggested by a low intestinal
calcium absorption in the face of high serum 1,25(
OH)2D. Moreover, there may have been a defective
vitamin D-25-hydroxylase, since there was a relative refractoriness to treatment with large doses of
vitamin D2, an inappropriately low serum 250HD after
vitamin D2 therapy, and a responsiveness to treatment with 25OHD3.