Myocardial necrosis and mineralization in normal and Aleutian disease mink fed dexamethasone.

Focal myocardial necrosis with mineralization occurred in mink fed the synthetic corticosteroid, dexamethasone, as a treatment for aleutian disease. Cardiac lesions occurred with equal frequency in steroid-fed controls and appeared to be related only to feeding of dexamethasone. Possible pathogenetic mechanisms are considered.