Giant cell myocarditis and endomyocardial calcification in a 2.5-month-old infant triggered by excessive maternal alcohol abuse: case study of an unusual association

Case Report: Rapid and progressive left ventricular endocardial calcification in an infant with Williams syndrome

Williams syndrome (WS) is characterized by a range of clinical features, including cardiovascular disease, distinctive facial traits, neurobehavioral disorders, and a condition known as transient infantile hypercalcemia. Among these, endocardial calcification represents a non-specific response to severe, etiologically diverse myocardial injuries. In this report, we document a unique case involving an infant with WS who exhibited rapidly progressive arterial stenosis and left ventricular endocardial calcification, associated with a novel heterozygous deletion. While arterial stenosis is the most frequently observed cardiovascular issue in WS, instances of endocardial calcification during infancy are exceedingly rare and have not previously been reported in the context of WS.

Calcifying giant cell cardiomyopathy: a possible new entity: Images in Cardiovascular Pathology

We demonstrated an extremely unusual case of an 83-year-old male's sudden death secondary to characteristic myocardial necrosis and fibrosis with calcification and multinucleated giant cells infiltration, possibly due to sepsis and Stage IV pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma-induced cachexia after postmortem study. We propose that this calcifying giant cell cardiomyopathy (CGC) would be a new entity especially from the pathological viewpoints and should be considered in the classification of noninfectious myocarditis. Further prospective studies are needed to validate the presence and significance of CGC and the association with any triggers of somewhat microvascular dysfunction and/or toxic agents, after collecting and investigating a larger number of CGC cases examined.