A 73-year-old man, with a history of rheumatic mitral stenosis for 40 years, mitral valve replacement in 1991, and pacemaker implantation due to sick sinus syndrome in 2005, was admitted to our hospital presenting with dyspnea and peripheral pitting edema. The chest X-ray study revealed an unusual pattern of curvilinear cardiac calcification (Fig. 1). Computed tomography showed a giant left atrium with calcification (Fig. 2).
Rheumatic heart disease, often neglected by media and policy makers, is a major burden in developing countries. There are about 2.5 million people with rheumatic heart disease in China [1]. The left atrium calcification is a rare complication of long-standing rheumatic valvular heart disease. It takes an average duration of 41 years to develop atrium calcification after rheumatic fever [2]. The left atrium calcification was first described in 1912 by Oppenheimer [3]. Porcelain left atrium is a rare entity; furthermore, massive calcification of left atrium has been reported in very few cases.
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Sun, Q., Wang, B.Y., Zhao, J. et al. Giant left atrium calcification. Intern Emerg Med 10, 757–758 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-015-1220-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-015-1220-x