Questions on the Use of Vitamin D3
1 Laboratoire des Tissus Calcifiés, Hôpital des Enfants Malades, 75730 Paris Cedex 15, France
2 Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Binnengasthuis, 1012 GA Amsterdam, The Netherlands
From their observations in a boy with hypophosphatemic rickets Chan and Bartter1 conclude that administration of 1
,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) is the treatment of choice for this disease. Since this point of view is not shared by everybody, it demands careful scrutiny. The conclusion rests on the increased growth velocity, the radiologic healing of the rachitic lesions, and the increase in serum phosphorus which occurred when treatment was changed from vitamin D2 to 1,25-(OH)2D3. From the growth curve of this boy it appears that the increase in growth velocity could represent the pubertal growth spurt in a late maturer.




