Visceral Calcification and the CaXP Product

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Abstract
Soft-tissue calcification (metastatic calcification) frequently complicates diseases characterized by hypercalcemia or hyperphosphatemia. Calcification of the arteries or the periarticular tissues can be demonstrated easily by radiological means (1) but calcification of viscera, such as lungs or stomach cannot; even if, on histological examination, it is extensive. For this reason we stand in urgent need of a method for the antemortem diagnosis of visceral calcification because it would improve our efforts to prevent or treat this complication. Recently several workers (2–6) have reported that the visceral uptake of bone-seeking radionuclides during the course of a bone scan indicates calcification, and have demonstrated the presence of calcium crystals in these tissues on histological examination. Using this technique, the incidence of visceral calcification was studied retrospectively in 40 patients − 22 with chronic renal failure, nine with hypercalcemia secondary to malignancy and nine with primary hyperparathyroidism. We also examined the role of the concentration of serum calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and the CaXP product on such calcification. This paper describes our findings.

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