October 4, 2022

OCT 4, brief saga (organic brain poetry): metabolic delirium










Authors' Note: The authors were surprised, on researching this point, to learn that urgent hospital admissions in patients with unsuspected cancer in the late metastatic phase are commonly triggered by symptoms of delirium. Among metabolic determinants, sometimes hypercalcemia (elevated blood calcium level) is found, but the cause of delirium may remain undiscovered. Hyponatremia (a low serum sodium level ) characterizes a relatively frequent metabolic derangement, not specifically linked to cancer, that may cause confusion, and even delirium or seizures, in elderly patients eating diets low in protein and salt.

This verse belongs to a series on organic causes of neuropsychiatric symptoms, the others being frontal meningioma, hypothyroid depression, general paresis of the insane, cerebral metastases, beriberi and high-dose steroids.

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