Calcification of the Myocardium of a Young Woman

From the North Down Hospitals Group, Newtownards, Co Down Calcification has been described in the heart valves, coronary arteries, and pericardium, but when it involves the myocardium it is usually in the site of an old infarction.In this patient we were unable to establish the precise cause for the myocardial calcification.Case ReportThe patient was a married woman of 21 years who complained of occasional left sub-mammary pain, sharp in character and very short in duration.She also stated that she suffered from a lack of energy although her history showed that she was quite an active person.There did not appear to be any exertional dyspnea and there was certainly no angina pectoris.Her past history was that she had diphtheria while a child of 6 months in Germany.At the age of 14 she was in hospital for two months when she had pain in the right flank, and was told that she had a stone in her right kidney: there was no operative interference and she has had no recurrence of renal symptoms.While employed in a hospital at the age of 16 a routine X-ray examination showed calcification in the region of the heart.She had one child, a healthy boy of 18 months, with no complication during the pregnancy.