Vanishing calcification of the brain in an infant after open heart surgery

Neurological complications after cardiac operations with the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass and hypothermia are well known. A 6 months-old child is described with severe neurological complications after cardiac surgery for Fallots tetralogy. On the CT scan cortical calcification was seen to vanish. Such calcification has not been reported in similar patients. Possible causes are discussed but the precise pathophysiology of this phenomenon remains unclear.