Myocardial calcifications: thinking beyond the heart.

Myocardial calcifications are often discovered incidentally and result from dystrophic or metastatic deposition of calcium1. Dystrophic calcification represents the sequalae of local tissue damage with necrosis, most commonly from myocardial ischemia. Unlike the prior, metastatic calcification is the result of abnormal calcium homeostasis; including renal failure, hyperparathyroidism, and vitamin D deficiency. Myocardial calcifications are not entirely a benign finding, since they can lead to heart failure, arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death2.