Myocardial calcifications in infants with congenital heart disease.

A histopathologic study of six hearts from infants with congenital heart disease and myocardial calcification revealed that foci of calcification were surrounded by normal-appearing myocardial tissue, ischemic myocardial tissue, or both. Inflammatory process, necrotic tissue removal process, and scar formation were not identified in the majority of these subjects. Three congenital heart anomalies are newly reported as associated with myocardial calcifications. The results of this study give evidence that necrotic tissue in the myocardium of some infants tends to become calcified rather than be removed and scarred as occurs in the adult. It also confirms that prenatal cardiac disease and trauma such as surgery might account for the presence of myocardial calcification.