Title: tetany
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - tetany
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12131
Status: current

Definition
Neurological syndrome characterized by muscle twitches, cramps, and spasms; and in severe forms, by spasm of the muscles of the larynx (laryngospasm) and seizures.

Note
Often reflecting irritability of the central and peripheral nervous systems resulting from a low concentration of ionized calcium in the serum.

Related Terms
- cramps: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11699
- peripheral nervous systems: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12003
- spasms: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12080

Source
- PAC, 2015, 87, 841. 'IUPAC Glossary of terms used in neurotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2015)' on page 911 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0103)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12131/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12131/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12131/xml

Citation: Citation: 'tetany' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12131
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-30T07:36:21+00:00