Generalized calcinosis in systemic sclerosis

Abstract

### Learning Point for Clinicians Soft tissue calcinosis is a common cutaneous manifestation in systemic sclerosis. Although rare, tumoral calcinosis can occur in patients with polyarthralgia associated to neurological symptoms. Radiographs or computed tomography are useful tools to diagnose and assess this condition. A 50-year-old man consulted in 2009 for persistent polyarthralgia involving shoulders, left elbow, wrists, hands, fingers, ankles, feet and toes. The patient was a farmer with daily handwork in fields located in the south of France, sometimes exposed to an intense cold wind called ‘mistral’. He did not protect his hands with gloves. He was a moderate smoker, with past bilateral surgery for tunnel carpal syndrome. In 1996, he had suffered from ankylosing spondylitis and had been treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, salazopyrin and methotrexate. He, finally, in 1998 received cyclosporin which was complicated by an acute renal failure and arterial hypertension requiring dialysis. Arterial venous fistula was created of his left arm but was not used because his renal …