title: Hemorrhagic transformation of ischemic stroke: severe complications of prosthetic valve endocarditis.
abstract: Ischemic stroke is a common complication of infective endocarditis (IE), occurring in 20-40% of left side IE cases. In these subsets, anticoagulation therapy may provoke hemorrhagic transformation (HT) of ischemic stroke, and complications of this magnitude deteriorate the clinical course for IE patients. However, in cases of IE complicated with a mechanical prosthetic valve, the physician can be concerned over the maintenance of anticoagulation due to the risk of thrombotic complication. According to our retrospective review, HT of ischemic stroke in prosthetic valve endocarditis occurred 13.8% (4/29) of the time in a variety of situations. Some of these even arose in patients with a subtherapeutic range of prothrombin time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Woo-In
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chi Young
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.forename: Jong-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Namsik
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Hyuk-Jae
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chang