title: Caseous calcification of the mitral annulus.
abstract: A 61-year-old asymptomatic woman was referred for echocardiography to evaluate recently detected systolic murmur. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed an echodense obstructive mass in the left ventricular outflow tract of unclear origin. Subsequent transesophageal echo suggested an intracardiac calcified tumor and recommended surgical excision. Contrast-enhanced cardiac computed tomography (CT) confirmed a well-defined lobulated mass adherent to the anterior mitral valve leaflet, the non-enhanced scout view revealed marked hyper-attenuation confirming diffuse calcification. Caseous calcification was diagnosed and surgery was deferred. Caseous calcification is typically benign and most commonly involves the posterior mitral annulus. Our patient displayed an atypical location of exuberant mitral annular calcification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada; ; Department of Radiology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria;
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Plank
authors.forename: Donya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Al-Hassan
authors.forename: Giang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Rekha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raju
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Cameron
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hague
authors.forename: Jonathon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leipsic
keywords: Computed tomography (CT); calcification; mitral valve; valve disease