Low-Calcium Dialysis in Calciphylaxis

Calciphylaxis is a potentially life-threatening complication of chronic renal failure. 1 Indeed, patients presenting with calciphylaxis may have extensive skin necrosis due to medial calcification and intimal hyperplasia in subcutaneous arteries. 2,3 Parathyroidectomy is the treatment of choice, although often unrewarding. 2 In radiographs the process is seen as a fine double-lined network of calcifications. However, radiographs taken after recovery from necrosis often fail to demonstrate any regression of small artery calcification. We describe a patient with chronic renal failure who developed calciphylaxis and in whom low-calcium dialysis led to significant improvement. Readings from a 3-dimensional scanner clearly showed the extent of the calcification and its regression after treatment. Report of a Case. A 46-year-old African man was hospitalized for chronic renal failure (creatinine level, 1358 μmol/L [15.36 mg/dL]), which was a complication of reactive systemic amyloidosis. He first underwent dialysis with femoral catheters in his country and then