A rare complication of infective endocarditis: left main coronary artery embolization resulting in sudden death
Lior Zeller1, Daniel Flusser, Ruthy Shaco-Levy
1Department of Medicine D, Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel. zellerl@bgu.ac.il
Abstract:
Whilst systemic septic embolization is a common complication of infective endocarditis, a second, less frequently reported, complication is the embolization of vegetative material to the coronary arteries that rarely results in acute myocardial infarction and sudden death. The case is presented of an acute cardiac death in a patient with aortic valve endocarditis, caused by acute occlusion of the left main coronary artery with vegetative material.
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