Intramyocardial calcification in the elderly. A diagnostic and therapeutic puzzle.

A 70-year-old woman presented with anular and progressive intramyocardial calcification within a five-year period. She had become increasingly symptomatic with mitral regurgitation and coronary insufficiency during the same period. The subvalvular (mitral) calcified intramyocardial mass was found to be "grumous atherosclerosis." This was obliterated while the mitral valve was replaced with a prosthetic valve and the coronary arteries were bypassed x3. She is surviving and well four years postoperatively.