[Color Doppler study of 2 complicated aortic abscesses ruptured into the right ventricle and left atrium]

This report describes 2 patients with infective endocarditis who subsequently developed aortic abscesses which eventually ruptured, in one case to the right ventricular outflow tract and, in the other, to the left atrium causing, in both patients, severe hemodynamic derangement. The site of communication between the abscesses and the receiving chamber was accurately diagnosed by color flow Doppler imaging which provided more valuable preoperative information than conventional techniques.