CLINICAL CASES   

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2000 August;135(4):513-6

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Cutaneous calcification in chronic renal failure

Rosella M., Masotti A., Masala M. V., Montesu M. A.

Università degli Studi - Sassari Istituto di Clinica Dermatologica

In chronic renal failure calcification of soft tissues occurs due to abnormalities of calcium and/or phosphate metabolism. Two patients with chronic renal failure (C.R.F.) are described: a 72-year-old woman on dialysis, who presented two extensive ulcerated areas on both ankles and a 66-year-old woman, affected by secondary hyperparathyroidism, who presented black eschars, subcutaneous nodules and indurated plaques on the abdomen, buttocks and sides. A biopsy of the skin and subcutaneous tissue, demonstrated on histological examination: in case 1, calcification of the tunica media of vessels and within the septa of the adipose lobules; in case 2 diffuse calcification throughout the derma. Therefore, within the limits of the same primary disease (C.R.F.), two different clinical, histological pictures, compatible with the diagnoses of calciphylaxis and metastatic calcifications have been observed. Emphasis is laid on the importance of an early diagnosis and on the therapeutical difficulties in calciphylaxis.