Acute skin and fat necrosis during sepsis in a patient with chronic renal failure and subcutaneous arterial calcification.

Calcification of small subcutaneous arteries and arterioles is commonly found in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF), but the syndrome of acute ischemic necrosis of the skin and subcutaneous fat supplied by these vessels is relatively uncommon. The necrosis occurs during dialysis and after successful renal transplantation, and it is often fatal. Occlusion of the calcified arteries and associated microvessels by thrombi is reported infrequently, but it is relevant to the necrosis. However, the pathogenesis remains enigmatic. In the patient described here, who had CRF, bacteremia, and laboratory evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), the distribution of thrombi and necrosis was mainly that of the calcified arteries which, therefore, probably played a role in the localization of the thrombi. An increased susceptibility of the endothelium of calcified vessels to the procoagulant effects of sepsis may be a contributing factor.