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Case Reports
. 2025 Jan 15:12:1477378.
doi: 10.3389/fped.2024.1477378. eCollection 2024.

Case Report: Hypercalcemia, subcutaneous fat necrosis and nephrocalcinosis in neonates who undergo therapeutic hypothermia: a not so rare association, with different onset time

Domenico Umberto De Rose #  1   2 , Chiara Maddaloni #  1 , Guglielmo Salvatori  1 , Francesca Campi  1 , Antonio Gatto  3 , Ludovica Martini  1 , Immacolata Savarese  1 , Iliana Bersani  1 , Graziamaria Ubertini  4 , Francesca Serrao  5 , Simonetta Costa  5 , Annabella Braguglia  6 , Francesca Gallini  7   8 , Giovanni Vento  5   7 , Andrea Dotta  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Case Report: Hypercalcemia, subcutaneous fat necrosis and nephrocalcinosis in neonates who undergo therapeutic hypothermia: a not so rare association, with different onset time

Domenico Umberto De Rose et al. Front Pediatr. .

Abstract

Subcutaneous fat necrosis (SCFN) in newborns is an uncommon and self-limiting non-infectious panniculitis. It can occur in the first weeks of life in full-term newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy who underwent therapeutic hypothermia. Hypercalcemia may develop and has been implicated as the cause of several complications as nephrocalcinosis. Hypercalcemia has been previously reported to appear only after resolution of skin lesions. Herein, we report how hypercalcemia can be evident already at diagnosis of subcutaneous fat necrosis after therapeutic hypothermia and can be associated with an early onset developing nephrocalcinosis. We compare two cases of these uncommon findings and review the recent literature.

Keywords: critical care medicine; hypercalcemia; hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy; neonate; nephrocalcinosis; therapeutic hypothermia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Calcium levels nobserved in patients 1 and 2, treated with TH.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Red, painful, non-tender subcutaneous lesions appeared in patient 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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