Successful treatment of soft tissue calcifications in uremia

The appearance of soft tissue calcifications in patients with chronic renal failure has been recognised as one of the serious complications of uremia. An elevated serum calcium-phosphate product has almost invariably been detected, although the exact mechanisms of precipitation are still not fully understood. Among the factors responsible for triggering the precipitation process are: hyperphosphatemia, secondary hyperparathyroidism, hypercalcemia, treatment with vitamin D3, etc. Phosphate binders have been used to prevent, among other things, soft tissue calcifications, and parathyroidectomy has most frequently been applied as the therapy of choice, once precipitation of calcium salts has occurred. We present a case of soft tissue calcifications in the gluteal regions of a chronic haemodialysis female patient. The therapy we chose was a combination of biphosphonate and deferoxamine. The patient was treated for two months. The regression of the soft tissue calcifications was very significant, as registered both clinically and radiologically. The exact mechanism by which this reversal was achieved needs further investigation.