title: [Correlative pathologic studies on the role of vitamin D in vascular calcinosis in childhood].
abstract: The large arteries (aorta, common carotid arteries with the adjacent segments of the internal and external carotid arteries, common, internal and external iliac arteries) of 64 children and young adults were sectioned longitudinally and removed with adjacent tissue. The macroscopic demonstration of calcium deposits was performed by using the Kossa reaction modified by Meyer and Stelzig (16). The macroscopically positive cases were selected for histology, fixed in formalin and embedded in paraffin. The total material comprised 4 premature infants, 6 mature neonates, 8 babies aged 1 to 12 months, 13 children aged 1 to 5 years, 12 school children between 6 and 13 years, and 21 young adults between 15 and 30 years. Calcium incrustations are visible in various arterial segments (in 59 of the 64 cases examined) as black dots, stripes, patches or polygonal figures. Extent and density of calcifications display differences not only from case to case but also from segment to segment. Contrary to the literature, disseminated calcinoses were even detected in some of our prematurely born babies. The severity of calcifications increases with increasing age. Calcium incrustations in mature neonates do not appear exclusively in the common and internal iliac arteries, but also in the other arteries examined. The least pathological changes consist in a focal disintegration, calcium impregnation and circumscribed fragmentation of the lamina elastica interna. In advanced cases, the inner layers of the wall show additional compact calcification foci of different size. We were afraid that the high single doses of vitamin D, within the frame-work of rickets prevention, may cause calcium deposits in the arteries of children. A clarification of these problems might be accomplished by comparative studies of the population in countries where rickets prevention is not practised by application of such high doses.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology; D001158:Arteries / Q000473:pathology*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007083:Iliac Artery / Q000473:pathology*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D011247:Pregnancy; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D
vernacular_title: Korrelationspathologische Untersuchungen zur Rolle des Vitamins D bei den Gefässkalzinosen im Kindesalter.