A Case Study of Severe Hypercalcemia Secondary to Subcutaneous Fat Necrosis: A Diagnosis of Exclusion

Subcutaneous fat necrosis (SCFN) is a rare complication, usually occurring in otherwise healthy full-term infants who have experienced some level of trauma that causes ischemic injury to adipose tissue. Tissue injury usually occurs in areas of the body that are exposed to excessive pressure as during delivery. Tissue injury has also been described secondary to therapeutic cooling. This case study presents an infant who received whole body cooling for hypoxic ischemic injury and later developed severe hypercalcemia at one month of age without the skin lesions consistent with SCFN. The differential diagnosis for hypercalcemia and how it relates to SCFN is presented, as well as clinical presentation, treatment, and prognosis.