Phosphoglyceride crystal deposition disease

An extremely rare phosphoglyceride deposition disease is reported. A healthy 62-year-old Japanese woman suffered from tumors that repeatedly appeared in injured soft tissues for more than 20 years. No immunologic disorders or abnormal laboratory data were found. Histology showed foreign body granulomas consisting of macrophages surrounding yellowish-white crystals. The crystals were weakly positive by von Kossa's method, were dissolved in 30% acetic acid with gas, and were easily dissolved in 0.1 N NaOH or potassium hydroxide, losing their crystal structure. Using a scanning electron microscopy X-ray microanalyzer, phosphorus and calcium peaks were detected. Phosphoglycerides were detected by microscopic infrared spectrophotometry and microsampling mass spectrometry. The gold hydroxamic acid method for detecting phosphoglyceride showed strong positive staining in the crystals. Based on the above analyses, the deposited crystals were regarded as phosphoglyceride, which bound calcium as a counter ion. The crystals tended to be deposited at sites of injury, where macrophages had accumulated. The patient had received many injections of a medicine made from alcohol extract from bovine liver. We suspect that this medicine was related to the cause of the deposition as the deposition repeatedly appeared at the site of the injections.