A case of iron and aluminum related osteomalacia in a long-term hemodialysis patient

A 32-year-old woman undergoing hemodialysis for 12 years was referred because of systemic bone pain and pathological fracture of ribs and right tibia. Her serum ferritin was 4800 ng/ml, liver CT level was extremely high and skeletal scintigram by 99 m-Tc-MDP revealed high activity of soft tissue. Her serum aluminum was elevated more than 20 micrograms/dl by deferoxamine infusion test. Osteomalacia and positive staining of both aluminum and iron was observed by bone biopsy examination. After treatment with deferoxamine as a chelating agent of iron and aluminum, bone pain was relieved and second bone biopsy specimen revealed improvement of osteomalacia. But serum aluminum was slightly reduced and serum ferritin level and liver CT level were unchanged.