ARTICLE SUMMARY:
From routine CT scans, Bunkerhill Health identifies mitral annular calcification—addressing an unmet need as MAC gains recognition as an independent risk factor for heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and cardiac death, and as a driver of complications in mitral valve repair and replacement.
In 2025, mitral annular calcification (MAC) emerged as a priority in cardiology, reshaping thinking around early detection as evidence increasingly linked the condition to heart failure risk and procedural complications during mitral valve interventions. MAC is a chronic, degenerative disorder marked by calcium deposition in the mitral annulus, impairing valve function and often leading to mitral regurgitation.
Over the past year, a growing body of literature has argued for proactive identification of MAC, enabling appropriate assessment and management of associated comorbidities such as aortic stenosis, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), atrial fibrillation, and mitral valve disease itself—conditions whose treatment becomes significantly more complex in the presence of annular calcification.
