ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC FINDINGS IN BACTERIAL ENDOCARDITIS.

Fifteen echocardiographic recordings in nine patients with bacterial endocarditis revealed vegetations in six cases. The vegetations appeared as uneven, irregular thickening of a valve, a mass of shaggy, dense echoes attached to a leaflet or cusp, or a mass of irregular dense echoes in the cavity or outflow tract of the left ventricle. Such findings were seen only on the echocardiograms of very sick patients with severe valvular lesions. Three patients had flail mitral valves. Echocardiography was not helpful in differentiating between active and healed lesions. Problems in the identification and differential diagnosis of vegetations shown on echocardiograms are discussed.