Echocardiographic demonstration of aortic root abscess after infective endocarditis

We describe a patient with infective endocarditis in whom the diagnosis was apparent only on two-dimensional echocardiography. There was no clinical or haematological evidence of active endocarditis and the diagnosis was made by the demonstration of an abscess cavity and vegetation posterior and lateral to the aortic root, deforming the left atrial cavity. The findings were confirmed by cardiac catheterisation and operation.