[Diagnosis and echocardiographic course of infectious endocarditis in obstructive cardiomyopathy].

A typical case of advanced obstructive cardiomyopathy in a young subject was revealed by Streptococcal mitral valve endocarditis and was diagnosed by one and two dimensional echocardiography, which revealed a pedunculated vegetation on the large mitral valve and rupture of the chordae of the small mitral valve. This was complicated by biventricular heart failure, peripheral arterial embolism in the leg due to migration of the vegetation which disappeared on the repeat echocardiography and pulmonary embolism with arterial clot emboli due to heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. This condition resolved without requiring cardiac surgery. Patients with obstructive cardiomyopathy should be treated routinely with prophylactic antibiotics, particularly when dental treatment is required. Echocardiography has become an essential examination in the diagnosis of this disease and its complications, especially in cases with infectious endocarditis.