title: A tortuous road for septic pulmonary emboli in left-sided endocarditis.
abstract: Coronary artery fistulae are rare congenital or acquired connections between the coronary vessels and the cardiac chambers or other vascular structures. We report a case of a woman with mitral valve endocarditis and multiple pulmonary septic emboli. Transesophageal echocardiography revealed a tortuous coronary fistula as the pathway for the septic emboli. The fistula, which originated from the right coronary artery to the right atrium, was visualized using different imaging modalities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, VU Medical Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: s.reinders@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Sjoerd
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reinders
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, VU Medical Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kjell
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bogaard
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, VU Medical Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Constant L A
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Reichert
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medisch Centrum Alkmaar, Alkmaar, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Remco J J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Knol
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018618:Echocardiography, Doppler, Color; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D018805:Sepsis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed