Aortic root replacement for complicated bacterial endocarditis in an infant.

We report the case of a 10-week-old girl with streptococcal aortic valve endocarditis that was resistant to medical management and complicated by aortic insufficiency, congestive heart failure, annular abscess, and a large periaortic pseudoaneurysm. She underwent successful aortic valve and root replacement (with coronary artery reimplantation) utilizing an aortic valve homograft (allograft). The patient recovered completely and was discharged 3 weeks postoperatively. To our knowledge, this is the youngest patient to receive an aortic homograft for bacterial endocarditis and annular abscess.