TUMORAL CALCIFICATIONS IN HEMODIALYSIS-PATIENTS - POSSIBLE ROLE OF ALUMINUM INTOXICATION

Uremic patients may develop extraskeletal calcifications. Among the latter, periarticular tumoral calcifications (TC) represent massive, multiloculated calcium-phosphate deposits. The aim of this report was to analyze a series of 10 cases of TC in hemodialysis patients who were admitted at the Necker Hospital between 1974 and 1988. They were all male. An increased plasma calcium x phosphorus product was observed in 8 of the 10 patients. Plasma calcium level was increased in only 2 patients. In contrast, hyperphosphatemia was a constant feature in all the patients, as was the absence of an increase in plasma alkaline phosphatase activity. Using the bone histomorphometry technique, osteitis fibrosa of mild degree was observed in 2 patients, of moderate degree in 2 and of severe degree in 2 others. Evidence of aluminum (Al) overload was found in the 8 patients in whom it was searched based on bone histomorphometry, bone histochemistry, bone Al content and increased serum Al levels either in the basal state or after a deferoxamine test. In addition, Al overload was strongly suspected in the 2 remaining patients because of prolonged exposure to Al-contaminated dialysate. Various treatment strategies, including parathyroidectomy (PTx), were undertaken that remained unsuccessful in modifying the course of TC to a significant extent. Remarkably, TC occurred for the first time after PTx in 1 patient and worsened after PTx in 2 others. In conclusion, overt secondary hyperparathyroidism appears not to be an essential prerequisite for TC development in hemodialysis patients, and PTx must not be performed in such patients on the sole basis of the presence of TC. A preexisting Al intoxication and the attendant disturbances of bone mineralization could be directly or indirectly involved in the occurrence of TC. In addition, other factors must also play a role, the nature of which has still to be defined.