European Journal of Echocardiography Advance Access originally published online on June 10, 2009
European Journal of Echocardiography 2009 10(6):806-807; doi:10.1093/ejechocard/jep074
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Mitral valve endocarditis caused by ulcerative colitis followed by septic embolic occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery
1 St Anna Children's Hospital, Kinderspitalgasse 6, 1090 Vienna, Austria
2 Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Received 24 January 2009; accepted after revision 16 May 2009; online publish-ahead-of-print 10 June 2009.
* Corresponding author. Tel: +43-1-40170; fax: +43-1-40170-7200. E-mail address: philipp.eickhoff{at}stanna.at
| Abstract |
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Acute endocarditis is a rare complication of ulcerative colitis. We report on a young woman, who initially presented with fever, elevated inflammatory markers, and symptoms of ulcerative pancolitis but without any cardiac co-morbidity. A few days after total colectomy, the patient complained of acute abdominal pain which led to the suspected diagnosis of mesenteric ischaemia caused by a septic embolus. Transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography showed a large vegetation on the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve. The patient was successfully treated by an operative approach including mitral valve replacement.
Keywords: Endocarditis; Ulcerative colitis; Mitral valve replacement