Clinical relevance of vegetations in infective endocarditis.
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1991-09-01
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Abstract
Two-dimensional echocardiograms of 58 patients with infective endocarditis were examined to determine if presence and/or size of vegetations on echocardiogram were predictive of morbidity and mortality. Group 1 (38 patients) with one or more vegetations, had a significantly higher rate of complications (emboli, congestive heart failure, need for surgery and death) than group 2 (20 patients) without vegetations (p less than 0.001). Analysis of morphologic characteristics of the vegetations in group 1 was of no predictive value for complications in individual patients. In contrast, patients whose echocardiograms demonstrated vegetations on aortic valve had a significantly higher incidence of heart failure, embolisation, surgery and death than those with vegetations on mitral valve. Thus, the detection of vegetations on initial echocardiogram clearly identifies a subgroup at risk for complications, more so if vegetations are present on the aortic valve, but the vegetations size does not predict an adverse clinical outcome.
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Soni D, Dhawan S, Agarwal S, Chandra N, Chandra P, Dwivedi S, Puri VK, Hasan M. Clinical relevance of vegetations in infective endocarditis. Indian Heart Journal. 1991 Sep-Oct; 43(5): 373-6