Idiopathic arterial calcification of infancy without intimal proliferation.

A case of idiopathic arterial calcification is described in a dysmature infant dying of massive pulmonary haemorrhage on the fourth day after a gestation of 36 weeks. The mother had disseminated lupus erythematosis and lupus nephritis treated with large amounts of prednisolone. Unlike most of the previously recorded cases of idiopathic arterial calcification of infancy subintimal proliferation of fibrous tissue and involvement of the coronary arteries did not occur. It is suggested that this non-occlusive form of arterial calcification may be a distinct entity.