Rapid development of extensive macrovascular calcifications in a type I diabetic patient

This is a case report of a 35-year-old woman with a 15-year history of type I diabetes mellitus, who developed extensive macrovascular calcifications of the abdominal aorta and all its tributaries within 7 months of developing renal insufficiency. The patient was maintained on hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis for a total of 3 months, then underwent combined cadaveric renal and pancreatic islet transplantation. Although some vascular calcifications are known to occur in elderly patients and in patients with long-standing uremia, it was the rapidity and extent of development of these lesions in this young woman that is astonishing.