Thrombo-embolic complications in bacteraemic infections

Thrombo-embolic complications including stroke and myocardial infarction are common in bacteraemic patients with and without endocarditis: about 20% of patients with infective endocarditis will develop stroke during their disease. Small miliary type myocardial infarctions are found in about 80-90% of autopsied endocarditis patients, but large myocardial infarctions are much more infrequent and acute myocardial infarctions are seldom diagnosed in the lifetime of these patients. About 10% of bacteraemic patients without endocarditis will develop stroke within one month of the onset of bacteraemia, and about 4% of bacteraemic patients will develop myocardial infarction. The risk of cerebral or myocardial infarction is very high in bacteraemic patients compared with the corresponding risk in the general population of the same age, and it has been estimated that about 10% of all strokes are associated with bacteraemic infections. The mechanisms which could cause thrombo-embolic complications in septic patients are numerous, but activation of the coagulation system is probably the most important. Currently, appropriate antimicrobial therapy is the best way to reduce mortality and also probably thrombo-embolic complications in bacteraemic patients who are not routinely using any anticoagulant therapy.