Calcificaciones ectópicas: mecanismos, similitudes y diferencias Ectopic calcifications: formation mechanism, similarities and differences

Introduction: Plasma is always supersaturated in hydroxyapatite, because if not the bone would not be formed. However ectopic calcifications do not occur massively and, their formation mechanism is still poorly understood. In this work three cases of different ectopic calcifications are presented and similarities and differences are analyzed in order to deepen in their formation mechanism. Patients and Methods: Three patients with ectopic calcifications were selected. A patient with hip calcification as a result of necrosis produced by a blow, a patient with a autoimmune overlap syndrome having multiple calcifications in several areas of the body and one patient with calcifying tendinitis of the shoulder. Mineralogical studies of samples taken from each patient were performed using scanning electron microscopy with microanalysis by X-ray dispersive energy. Urinary phytate levels in each patient were also determined. Results: The presence of organic matter and no spherulitic carbonated hydroxyapatite with bone-like compact structure was detected in the patient with hip calcification. In the other two patients the presence of organic matter calcified with carbonated hydroxya patite with a lot of spherulites or spheroidal carboxyapatite objects was observed. In all cases the urinary phytate levels correspond to low values (about 0.5 µM). Discussion: This study confirms that in all cases, if an ectopic calcification is generated this is due to a previous tissue injury. The morphology of that calcification will depend on the size and status of the available space where is generated. So, if it comes in re