Clinical characteristics and risk factors of tumor-like calcinosis

LIU Nannan; ZENG Yanmei

doi:10.12122/j.issn.1674-4500.2023.06.09

Abstract：Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with tumor-like calcinosis(TC)in rare diseases and analyze the associated risk factors.Methods We collected clinical data and laboratory data on 25 patients with TC at Nanfang Hospital from January 2001 to August 2021.All the patients were diagnosed by surgical pathology.The clinical,imaging and pathological features were analyzed.Eleven hospitalized patients with complete clinical data and eleven age-and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled into the study.The clinical and biochemical characteristics of TC patients were analyzed and summarized to explore the potential risk factors associated with the development of TC.Results X-ray of patients often showed high-density calcifications in soft tissues and MRI showed short T1 and long T2 signal shadows.The tumor exhibited uneven signal intensity,with clear boundary,and the local areas may be connected to the synovial capsule.Compared with healthy people,the serum uric acid levels were significantly increased in TC patients(P=0.038).The serum uric acid levels were positively correlated with the prevalence of TC,and the risk of TC increased by threefold(RR=3,95%CI:1.041-8.646).In addition,the product of serum phosphorus and calcium-phosphorus ratio in TC patients with hyperphosphatemia was increased significantly to the healthy population P<0.05).Hyperphosphatemia increased the risk of TC by 3.2-fold(RR=3.2,95%CI:1.547-6.619).Conclusion High serum phosphate and uric acid increased the risk of TC.Therefore,it was important to make a differential diagnosis between TC patients and patients with hyperuricemia or hyperphosphatemia.A comprehensive consideration,including age of disease onset,blood phosphorus concentration,past medical history,imaging,and pathological diagnosis could help to reduce the rate of misdiagnosis.