TOPHUS-LIKE, CONGLOMERATED, CRYSTALLINE CALCIFICATION OF THE SCLERA

The clinical history and the pathohistological findings of a peculiar form of multifocal scleral calcification in 3 globes of 2 patients are described. It consisted of globular drusen of rod-like crystals, fusi ng into large, tophus-like conglomerates. The crystals consisted of mo noclinic and triclinic calcium pyrophosphate. The deposits can be inte rpreted therefore as scleral pseudogout. They were combined in places with a diffuse, idiopathic inner scleral calcification. The pathogenes is of these mineralizations is unclear. No signs of a dystrophic calci fication were present. One patient, suffering from Alport's syndrome, had been normocalcemic for the last 16 years after renal transplantati on, and no disturbed calcium metabolism was known in the second case.