Seizures and other neurological problems
Central nervous system complications are found in 30% of patients with endocarditis, and they can be one of the most dangerous features of the disease. Patients may have focal seizures due to embolism, and may also have generalized seizures, but they are more usually caused as a pharmacologic adverse effect or due to hypoxia and other systemic conditions. Other neurological problems that should be carefully addressed include stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and infectious aneurysms.
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Infectious endocarditis is inevitably fatal if left untreated. It leads to severe insufficiency in the heart valves, heart failure, abscesses in the muscle layer of the heart, and severe neurologic consequences we have described in this article. Diagnosis requires fulfilling a series of diagnostic criteria and performing blood cultures and echocardiograms as a confirmatory test. Management is done with antibiotics depending on blood cultures, and sometimes empiric antibiotic therapy.