Mitral valve endocarditis: an uncommon cause of myocardial infarction

A 39 year old woman presented with acute anterior myocardial infarction. At coronary angiography the distal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was occluded despite otherwise normal coronary arteries. The LAD was successfully recanalized using PTCA. Subsequently, a transesophageal echocardiogram revealed vegetations and a significant incompetence of the mitral valve. Blood cultures identified out enterococcus faecalis. Despite intravenous antibiotic treatment guided by sensitivity testing, the patient ultimately required elective mitral valve replacement. During a prior outpatient diagnostic work-up of fever/malaise, the diagnosis of infective endocarditis was not made. This case conveys two main messages: 1) because the history and physical sings of bacterial endocarditis can be subtle or nonspecific, the first step to diagnose infective endocarditis is to include it in the differential diagnosis. 2) Percutaneous coronary intervention is an effective treatment of septic embolic occlusion of a major coronary artery.