Significant hypercalcemia can occur in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Immobilization hypercalcemia has been infrequently reported after ICU admission. Patients, therefore, usually require extensive workup to rule out other common causes of hypercalcemia, such as hyperparathyroidism.

A case series of five patients who were diagnosed with hypercalcemia due to immobilization and received treatment with pamidronate between 2019 and 2023 were reported.

The majority of cases were assessed as having hypercalcemia due to immobilization in the setting of low to normal parathyroid hormone levels, no suspicion of malignancy, and absence of other possible causative factors.

Treatment with pamidronate started 10 to 60 days after hypercalcemia was identified, and one or two doses of 30 mg of pamidronate were successful in resolving it.

Immobilization hypercalcemia following ICU admission was uncommon but treatable with pamidronate.

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