Descriptive terms are great.
Take “calcific uremic arteriopathy.”
Arteriopathy. There’s a problem with arteries, so you might guess manifestations may be ischemic/necrotic.
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Calcific...
Calcium deposits in the arteriolar walls, usually of the skin, causing fibrosis, thrombosis, obstruction.
Uremic...
This usually happens in the setting of kidney disease and a high calcium-phosphate product, though it’s complicated.
PMID 29719190
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Ischemic skin hurts, and necrotic tissues get infected. It’s a very bad disease.
The original (and still most commonly used) name, calciphylaxis, doesn’t tell as much of a story. Where did it come from?
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Let’s look at other terms with the suffix -phylaxis, Greek for guard/protection.
Prophylaxis: ahead guard (prevent)
Tachyphylaxis: quick guard (referring to diminishing effect of a medication with repeat use)
Anaphylaxis: up/high guard (overreaction of the immune guards)
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‘Calciphylaxis’ was coined by Selye in 1962.
Don’t think guarding against, or by, calcium has anything to do with the etymology.
Look at PMID 13987854 below:
“Condition of hypersensitivity...”
“Calciphylactic reaction...”
Seems it was just a twist from anaphylaxis.
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Again, descriptive terms are helpful. And in some ways, calciphylaxis tried to be..
The challenge is, sometimes we’re naming things when we don’t understand them yet... and when they prove to be misnomers, they can cause confusion, and are hard to update.
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