[Cerebral circulatory disorders in septic endocarditis]

Data of clinical examinations of 54 patients suffering from septic endocarditis are presented. Under examination there were patients admitted for this disease to a city hospital within a 5-year period. In 10 patients, the septic endocarditis was complicated with cerebral circulation disorders of the type of thromboembolism, subarachnoidal and hemispheral hemorrhages, mixed stroke, and cerebral vasculitis. Sometimes the cerebral circulation disorders preceded the development of septic endocarditis, and in such cases the diagnosis was difficult, especially in elderly patients with symptoms of cardiac insufficiency of other etiology. In such patients, the disease could be diagnosed correctly when the cerebral circulation disorder developed in the presence of a general infection (with fever, chills, and blood picture changes) and there were indications of frequently repeated thromboembolisms.