Libman-Sacks endocarditis: the diagnostic importance of two-dimensional echocardiography.
In 1980, a 44-year-old woman with the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus presented with fever and mitral and aortic valvular insufficiency. Blood cultures were sterile. M-mode echocardiograms of the mitral valve revealed an image resembling vegetations of infective endocarditis. The diagnosis was rejected after two-dimensional echocardiography which failed to demonstrate vegetation. Two-dimensional echocardiography should therefore be systematically utilized in the diagnosis of valvular lesions in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D004696:Endocarditis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications*; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000473:pathology