Pattern of cardiac calcification in tropical endomyocardial fibrosis.
Over a two-year period we investigated 55 patients with endomyocardial fibrosis, using two-dimensional echocardiography, color-coded echocardiography, and image intensifier fluoroscopy, to delineate the regional distribution of cardiac calcification. Thirty five patients (64%) were found to have calcification of the ventricular walls. Calcific deposits were seen in the right ventricle in 26(59%) patients and in the left ventricle in 16(44%) patients. All patients who showed calcification were in severe cardiac failure indicating late stage of the disease. When image intensifier fluoroscopy was taken as the gold standard, echocardiography had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 98% in detecting cardiac calcification. The high incidence of calcification in the ventricular walls in the present study is apparently due to the systematic use of two-dimensional echocardiography and image intensifier fluoroscopy.
Vijayaraghavan
G
G
Medical College and Hospital, Kerala, India.
Balakrishnan
M
M
Sadanandan
S
S
Cherian
G
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D004719:Endomyocardial Fibrosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male