Roentgenographic manifestations of pulmonary calcifications. A rare cause of respiratory failure in chronic renal disease.

Abstract

Two cases of chronic renal disease with massive pulmonary calcification leading to respiratory failure and death are presented. In both cases, chest roentgenograms showed relatively stable pulmonary infiltrates in the clinical presence of fever, dyspnea, and arterial hypoxemia. Primary clinical and radiographic considerations in these patients were pulmonary infection and pulmonary edema. In one patient, in retrospect, the infiltrates were definitely calcified on the chest roentgenograms. Since pulmonary calcification is potentially reversible by parathyroidectomy or proper dialysis, it is imperative that radiologists recognize or suggest this diagnosis when confronted with unchanging pulmonary infiltrates in a patient with chronic renal disease.