[Surgical decisions for active infective endocarditis in patients with acute neurological complications]

The surgical management of 7 patients with active infective endocarditis and recent (within 16 days) neurological injury was presented. All patients had preoperative computed tomographic scans which revealed no evidence of intracranial hemorrhage and underwent successful corrective cardiac surgery. In the early postoperative period, 4 patients died of cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, or progression of cerebral edema. Two of the 3 surviving patients showed no aggravation of cerebral infarcts postoperatively. In the remaining surviving patient, intracerebral mycotic aneurysms were resolved spontaneously after postoperative antibiotic therapy, although new cerebral hemorrhage, a complication of emboli, occurred after open heart surgery. The results of this study indicated that 1) cerebrovascular complications were the causes of the 4 deaths in this series, and 2) although heparinization during open heart surgery may result in intracerebral hemorrhage from mycotic aneurysm or infarction, early surgical intervention after recent cardiogenic embolic strokes may save patients with minor cerebral infarcts.