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Calcification.

The term "calcification" denotes the process of deposition of calcium salts (phosphates, oxalates) outside the bone tissue: in the renal tissue, in the walls of blood vessels, in muscle tissue (including the myocardium), in cartilage tissue, tendons, lungs, tissues of the gastrointestinal tract. Many biochemical processes of tissue calcification have not yet been explained. But science says that calcification is a severe type of metabolic pathology and has a high fatality rate.

Normally, calcium ions are in the blood plasma at a certain concentration, from where they enter the bone tissue during its regeneration and remodeling. Removing calcium from bone tissue in osteopenia, osteoporosis increases the level of free calcium in the blood. The parathyroid hormone produced by the parathyroid glands regulates the concentration of calcium ions, and the excretion of calcium from the body is the function of the kidneys. Dysfunction of the parathyroid glands or renal function will inevitably lead to disturbances in calcium-phosphorus metabolic processes (hypercalcemia and / or hyperphosphatemia). Magnesium also plays an important role in calcium metabolism. Hypomagnesemia will also be the starting point in starting the processes of calcification. Some diseases (hypervitaminosis D, hypocalciuria, Paget disease, hyperthyroidism, muscle necrosis, adrenal insufficiency, chronic acidosis, bone metastases), provoking a violation of calcium-phosphorus metabolism, cause calcification.

Deposits of calcium salts are often called calcification, because they resemble limescale in the form of inclusions, crystals of different sizes. Affected tissues lose elasticity, change their structure, functional characteristics, become fragile and vulnerable to all sorts of damage.

Depending on which tissues or organs are affected, calcification is divided into types:

Dystrophic calcification, when the calcification process is triggered as a result of tissue injury (such calcification is diagnosed with destruction of lung tissue, implantation of medical devices, heart attacks, chronic tissue inflammation);
Metastatic calcification, when the calcification process is initiated by diseases of the kidneys, parathyroid glands, hypervitaminosis D, osteomalacia, tumors, polycystic, intestinal tissue damage and others;
Interstitial calcification (not well understood), when calcification develops due to the inability to retain calcium ions in the blood plasma and intercellular fluid. Such calcification is accompanied by the deposition of calcium salts in the subcutaneous tissue, in the thickness of the skin, on the tendons and muscle fascia, the vascular wall, and nerve fibers.

Calcification can be a systemic process if calcification affects many organs and tissues, or it can occur locally with the appearance of small areas of calcium salt deposition.

Signs of calcification can be seen with the naked eye if the calcification process takes place in the joints, under the skin. In this case, the affected areas swell, tuberosity appears, the shape of the limbs changes, and pain appears. Such deposits of crystals of calcium salts are clearly visible on the X-ray diffraction pattern. In the case of calcification of internal organs, blood vessels, the symptoms of calcification will be reflected in a number of pathological changes in tissue and dysfunction of the affected organ.