Gastric infarction: a complication of endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus

We describe a 62-year-old man with diabetes mellitus and peripheral vascular insufficiency, with an ulcer on his foot which led to staphylococcal septicemia, endocarditis, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. All these factors contributed to thromboembolic occlusion of the terminal arteries and veins supplying the stomach, causing gastric infarction.