[Vascular complications in infectious endocarditis. Apropos of 86 cases]

During a 20 year period, 285 patients were hospitalised for infectious endocarditis (IE) in the Department of Cardiology of the Ernest-Conseil Hospital in Tunis and 86 of them, i.e. 30%, developed a vascular complication (VC). Among these 86 patients, there were a total of 108 lesions, including 52 neurological complications, 14 peripheral acute ischemic syndromes, 16 peripheral arterial aneurysms, 9 aortic aneurysms, 7 pulmonary embolisms, 6 splenic infarctions and 4 coronary lesions. The mortality in this patient group proved to be slightly greater than in the series as a whole, in particular concerning patients with multiple lesions and those with an artificial valve. No prognostic difference was seen between patients with a VC of aneurysmal type and of ischemic type, but the presentation and severity of lesions was very variable. The vascular complication was a presenting feature of IE in almost 40% of cases. The organism found most often was the streptococcus, above all in ischemic type IE as well as in the total patient group. Similarly, the preferential site was aortic, above all for aneurysmal type IE. Ultrasonography revealed a higher incidence of vegetations in this series of patients, above all in ischemic type VC, but anatomical studies have shown this to be an investigation of moderate sensitivity and poor specificity, poorly correlated from a prognostic standpoint with the risk of embolism. The conclusion of the study is above all the need to prevent such complications: embolic complications by early antibiotic treatment and valve replacement and aneurysmal complications by methodical routine angiographic evaluation and appropriate treatment.