UTILITY OF TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAP HY IN EMBOLI RISK DETECTIONIN A PATIENT WITH STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS ENDOCARDITIS

Embolism is very frequently found in patients with infective endocardi tis (IE), fundamentally in cerebral arteries. An early diagnosis and p ossible complications seem to be related to morbidity and mortality. E chocardiography has a considerable function in early diagnosis, and, a lso, when we evaluate the risk of major cerebral embolism. However the re is no agreement in the second aspect: for some anthers echocardiogr aphy only slightly aids, but others consider it of great value in iden tifying highrisk patients. We describe a patient who suffers infective endocarditis by Staphylococcus aureus with significant neurological c omplications in its evaluation. Vegetation was disclosed by transesoph ageal echocardiography (TEE), whereas transthoracic echocardiography ( TTE) was unable to do so. This is why we underline the role of TEE in the diagnosis and description of vegetation features (size, mobility a nd implantation) which seem to be linked to the risk of cerebral compl ications.