Unusual case of metastatic pulmonary calcification

Metastatic Pulmonary Calcification in a Patient with Nonsecretory Multiple Myeloma

“…Probably this will make calcium deposi tion easier in this region [11], Autopsy findings suggest that calcifica tion could not be corrected either by treat ing the underlying disease or by appropri ate therapy of hypercalcemia. Like other authors [1,8], we assume that renal dys function may have altered the configura tion of tissue proteins so as to render them more calcifiable, thus indicating a special risk of patients with renal failure.…”

“…Precipitation of calcium depends on complex physiochemical factors, particu larly the extracellular calcium phosphate ion product and the systemic and local tis sue pH value [1,3], The calcium phospho rus product in normal subjects is about 3 mmol2/ l 2, and calcification occurs in vivo when the product exceeds a critical level of 5 mmol2/ l 2. We think that massive osteolysis caused our patient's hypercalc emia and previous azotemia, thus leading to the same mechanisms of pulmonary calcification which in most cases are found in patients who suffer from chronic renal failure.…”

“…Chronic renal fail ure is by far the major cause, and affeced viscera include stomach, kidney, lung, and heart [1,3,5,6,8,9], Radiological di agnosis of diffuse pulmonary calcification has proven to be almost impossible, be cause particles are small and scattered throughout the parenchyma.…”

Pulmonary Calcification in Long-Term Hemodialysis: A Mimic of Pulmonary Thromboembolism

“…Metastatic calcification is known to occur in patients with chronic renal failure, especially those undergoing maintenance hemodialysis [1], The calcification is usually diffuse and involves alveolar septa and vessel walls and may occasionally be recognized radiographi cally [2][3][4], Rarely, large calcified pulmonary nodules may present a diagnostic problem in differentiation from neoplastic or infectious diseases [5]. Patients with severe pulmonary calcification may have abnormalities of vital capacity, POi.…”

Generalized soft tissue calcification in children and adolescents with end stage renal failure

“…Non-visceral deposits are hydroxyapatite and easily detected radiologically while calcifications in heart, lungs and stomach consist of a microcrystalline compound of calcium, magnesium and phosphate [6]. Since the observation of increased uptake of bone-seeking radiotracers at the sites of visceral calcifications, an increasing number of patients with calcium deposits in internal organs has been reported [1,2,8,20,22]. However controversy exists regarding both the sensitivity and specificity of the procedure [5,7,9,18,23].…”