Garfield and Karaplis (2001) reviewed the various causes and clinical forms of hypoparathyroidism. They noted that hypoparathyroidism is a clinical disorder characterized by hypocalcemia and hyperphosphatemia. It manifests when parathyroid hormone (PTH; 168450) secreted from the parathyroid glands is insufficient to maintain normal extracellular fluid calcium concentrations or, less commonly, when PTH is unable to function optimally in target tissues, despite adequate circulating levels. Genetic Heterogeneity of Familial Isolated Hypoparathyroidism FIH2 (618883) is caused by mutation in the GCM2 gene (603716). An X-linked form of familial hypoparathyroidism, HYPX (307700), is caused by interstitial deletion/insertion on chromosome Xq27.1, which may have a position effect on expression of SOX3 (313430). Congenital absence of the parathyroid and thymus glands (III and IV pharyngeal pouch syndrome, or DiGeorge syndrome, 188400) is usually a sporadic condition (Taitz et al., 1966).