Images in Clinical Medicine

Calcified Left Ventricular Aneurysm

Byron K. Lee, M.D., and J. Edwin Atwood, M.D.

N Engl J Med 2003; 348:918March 6, 2003

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Article

A 70-year-old man with a history of a myocardial infarction, hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer, and chronic renal insufficiency presented with chest pain. Electrocardiography revealed atrial fibrillation and ST-segment elevation in the anterior leads; the ST-segment elevation was unchanged from an electrocardiogram obtained three years previously. Lateral chest radiography showed a calcified aneurysm in the anterior wall of the left ventricle, which can cause ST-segment elevation. Measurement of cardiac enzymes revealed no evidence of myocardial infarction. Osteoblastic lesions from metastatic prostate cancer in the patient's ribs and thoracic spine probably caused his chest pain. A subsequent computed tomographic scan of the chest also showed the calcified aneurysm (arrow) in the anterior wall of the left ventricle. Chronic renal insufficiency and metastatic prostate cancer can both cause hypercalcemia and metastatic calcification. They may have enhanced the deposition of calcium into the wall of the aneurysm.

Byron K. Lee, M.D.
University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143

J. Edwin Atwood, M.D.
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC 20307

Citing Articles (2)

Citing Articles

1. 1

   Xianqiang Wang, Hengchao Wu, Hansong Sun. (2011) Massive calcified left ventricular aneurysm and ventricular septum: Successful surgical repair and reconstruction. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
   CrossRef

2. 2

   (2003) Calcified Left Ventricular Aneurysm. New England Journal of Medicine 348:24, 2469-2469
   Full Text

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