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Aortic knuckle calcification

Aortic knuckle calcification

Surya Besant Natarajan1,&, KrishnaPrasanth Baalann1

 

1Department of Community Medicine, Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Shankar Nagar, Chromepet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600044, India

 

 

&Corresponding author
Surya Besant Natarajan, Department of Community Medicine, Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Shankar Nagar, Chromepet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600044, India

 

 

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Aortic knuckle calcification is a condition where there is deposit of calcium in aortic valve causing reduced blood flow through the same. The condition usually presents in old age as a complication of rheumatic heart disease or Infective Endocarditis. Risk factors include old age, raised blood pressure and coronary heart disease. A 60-year-old female came with chief complaints of breathing difficulty for one month (grade 2 dyspnea) along with chest pain for two days. There was a history of rheumatic fever five years ago and was treated with a ten days course of penicillin. On examination, her blood pressure was found to be 150/100mmHg. Chest X-ray was taken and it showed aortic knuckle calcification. The patient was started on anti-hypertensive drugs and rheumatic fever prophylaxis and was planned for surgical valve replacement after 3 months.

Figure 1: radio-opaque mass over the hilar region: aortic knuckle calcification