Juxta-articular erosions and calcifications in patients with chronic renal failure.

The frequency of subperiosteal erosions and soft tissue calcifications was found to be about 36 and 33 per cent, respectively, in a series of 241 patients with chronic renal failure. In patients on chronic hemodialysis and in renal transplant recipients, subperiosteal juxta-articular erosions combined with soft tissue calcifications were observed in the same localization in 53 joints, most commonly in small joints of the hands. The calcifications appeared before the erosions, suggesting that the calcifications induced the erosions.