[Extraskeletal calcification in chronic renal failure during hemodialysis and after renal transplantation (author's transl)].

The frequency of calcifications in vessels and soft tissue was 39% in 184 patients with chronic renal failure. Non-dialyzed patients and dialyzed patients at the start of dialysis treatment had most frequently calcifications of the aorta and larger vessels. Renal transplant recipients, who developed osteonecrosis or spontaneous fractures after transplantation, showed at the time of transplantation a higher frequency of calcifications compared to renal transplant recipients, who did not develop these complications. The frequency of calcifications increased with increasing age not only in the aorta, but also in the other vessels. In nondialyzed patients and in dialyzed patients at the start of dialysis treatment the calcifications were more commonly found in women and in renal transplant recipients in men. In all groups of patients a significant, higher frequency of calcifications was found in patients with radiologic evidence of bone resorption compared to patients without resorptive bone changes. Before and during chronic hemodialysis and following renal transplantation the frequency of calcifications increased. Calcification was most pronounced in the larger vessels in nondialyzed and dialyzed patients and in small vessels in renal transplant recipients. Increase in frequency of calcifications occurred slowly in nondialyzed patients and in renal transplant recipients, whereas an accelerated increase occurred in the first 15 months of the dialysis period in hemodialyzed patients.