Left Atrial Mural Endocarditis Diagnosed by Transesophageal Echocardiography in a Patient with Mitral Valve Prolapse

  • Choi, Ji-Yong (Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Daegu Catholic University Medical Center) ;
  • Kim, Kee-Sik (Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Daegu Catholic University Medical Center)
  • Published : 2008.09.27

Abstract

Infective endocarditis (IE) is one of the major complications of the mitral valve prolapse (MVP) syndrome and usually involves mitral valve (MV) and its accessory apparatus. Left atrial (LA) mural endocarditis is a condition of rarely diagnosed and the most feasible mechanism is related to the impact of regurgitant jet that causes endothelial damage and retrograde microorganisms dissemination. Echocardiography is essential in diagnosis and treatment of IE but in mural endocarditis, it may be difficult to find vegetation by standard view of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). We report a case of LA mural endocarditis which was diagnosed by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in a patient with MVP.

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