[Unusually large vegetation on the mitral valve in a patient with bacterial endocarditis]

We present a case history of 29-year old female with infective endocarditis, who was admitted 15 months after neurosurgical treatment of disruption of cerebral aneurysm. The diagnosis of organic heart disease had been established in her childhood. 6 months after discharge from neurosurgery she developed marked dyspnoea on exertion and became febrile (up to 39.0 C). The presumptive diagnosis of infective endocarditis was established 6 months later, when she developed the symptoms and signs of severe anaemia with ESR 170 mm/hr although blood cultures were negative. The patient underwent treatment with Penicillin and Debecillin. On admission to our Institute echocardiography showed a very large, mobile vegetation in the left ventricle, connected to the anterior leaflet of mitral valve. Decision of mitral valve replacement was made, but rupture of the next cerebral aneurysm was the reason of unexpected, sudden death of the patient. The postmortem examination revealed 7 x 4 cm large vegetation, with the mass of 7.0 g. Histologically the vegetation consisted of mass of fibrin strands, platelets and blood cell with inflammatory cells. On its base the signs of the process of organization were marked. This vegetation was the largest one that we found in literature on this subject.