Dysphagia in a Cancer Patient

Hypercalcemia causes gastrointestinal symptoms such as anorexia, constipation, and pancreatitis but has not been commonly associated with dysphagia. In patients with cancer, dysphagia has been attributed to local tumor invasion or as a complication from surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, there are cases of dysphagia in setting of malignancy with rapid resolution of symptoms after treatment of hypercalcemia. Excess calcium reduces neuromuscular excitability and leads to hypotonicity of the muscle, which could be mechanism by which dysphagia occurs. There are not enough data about dysphagia in association with hypercalcemia from benign etiologies, which could be due to less pronounced hypercalcemia.