Renal calcification incidence in very low birth weight infants

Serial ultrasound examinations were performed on 31 neonates with birth weights of less than 1,500 g for the detection of renal calcifications. Renal calcifications occurred in 20 (64%) of the infants at a mean age of 39.3 +/- 26.7 days of life. Infants with renal calcifications had shorter gestations (28.2 +/- 1.8 v 31 +/- 1.4 weeks, P less than .004) and lighter birth weights (924 +/- 195 v 1,338 +/- 100 g, P less than .004) than those infants without renal calcifications (n = 11). Furosemide administration was more common in the infants with renal calcifications (65% v 9.1%, P less than .001). The mean total dose of furosemide administered before renal calcifications were noted was 9.59 +/- 7.25 mg/kg. The 20 neonates with renal calcifications had a mean urine calcium level of 12.0 +/- 6.8 mg/kg/24 hours, mean urine calcium to creatinine ratio of 1.32 +/- 1.03 (range 0.3 to 4.45), and a mean alkaline phosphatase concentration of 961 +/- 327 IU. Initial parathyroid hormone levels were not different between the two groups, and subsequent determinations in infants with renal calcifications did not differ significantly from initial values. Renal calcifications are fairly common among very low birth weight infants, particularly in those receiving supplemental calcium and furosemide therapy. Although long-term implications of such findings are not known, close monitoring of renal function by serial determinations of urine calcium and urine calcium to creatinine ratios may identify those infants at risk for renal calcifications.