Tissue calcification after orthotopic liver transplantation. An autopsy study.

A retrospective review of 25 patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation was performed to relate the prevalence and preferred sites of microscopic calcium deposition seen at autopsy to clinical parameters, namely, hypercalcemia, hypercalcemia, hyperphosphatemia, and renal failure. Microscopic foci of calcification were noted in 84% of patients, and hypercalcemia was noted in 68%. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the number of microscopically calcified organs depended in part on the peak total serum calcium level and the duration of hypercalcemia and that the peak total serum calcium level depended in part on the peak phosphorus level and the quantity of calcium administered intraoperatively. Univariate analysis showed that peak phosphorus level was partially dependent on the peak creatinine level. The data suggest that hypercalcemia and postoperative ectopic calcification are common and related occurrences following hepatic transplantation and that intraoperative manipulations of serum calcium levels and renal failure partially, but not entirely, account for this phenomenon.