LEFT-SIDED NATIVE VALVE ENDOCARDITIS, COMPLICATED WITH CEREBRAL INFECTED ANEURYSM

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction: Infective endocarditis (IE) is defined as infection of a native, prosthetic heart valve, endocardial surface, or permanent cardiac device. It is a disease characterized by the sudden onset of high fever, chills, sepsis and systemic complications, with a high morbidity and mortality rate.

Objective: To present the case of a male patient with native valve infective endocarditis, complicated by infected cerebral aneurysm.

Methodology: Analysis, clinical history review and discussion of a clinical case treated at the Dr. Abel Gilbert Pontón Hospital, Guayaquil.

Clinical case: A 34-year-old male with a history of unquantified temperature rise of 4 months' evolution who was admitted for cardioembolic cerebral infarction secondary to infective endocarditis, with signs of heart failure and
during his hospitalization presented subarachnoid hemorrhage due to rupture of an infected aneurysm, prolonging their hospital stay and thus
modifying the therapeutic strategy.

Conclusion: Due to its variable and non-specific clinical manifestations, IE entails a diagnostic challenge. Suspicion arises from the triad of fever, heart murmur (new or worsening of a pre-existing one) and embolic events with no obvious cause, and microbiological and imaging criteria must also be met (Duke). Early detection is emphasized, since if severe neurological complications occur, as in the case described, it can delay surgical resolution
and increase the risk of short-term mortality