Non-uremic calciphylaxis in a woman without end-stage renal disease

Abstract

A woman in her 60s with a history of lower extremity vascular disease presented with extreme pain and wounds in her legs which had kept her from walking for several weeks. The patient's pain became intolerable throughout her hospital stay despite multiple surgical revascularisations. Biopsy of the patient's calf wounds revealed evidence of calciphylaxis, a diagnosis which corresponds with this patient's extreme pain. Our patient had no history of end-stage renal disease.

Keywords: dermatology; renal medicine.

Figure 1

Excisional biopsy of left calf ulcer. (A) Fat necrosis of the subcutaneous adipose tissue with granulation tissue and associated acute and chronic inflammation and stromal calcifications (H&E-stained section, ×100). (B) Calcified elastic fibres in the septa of subcutaneous adipose tissue (von Kossa stain, ×100). (C) Stippled calcifications of small vessels in the subcutaneous adipose tissue (von Kossa stain, ×200).