Mycotic aneurysms

MYCOTIC ANEURYSMS

-Term coined by Osler to describe aneurysms associated with bacterial endocarditis

-Emboli occludes vasa vasorum or vessel lumen causing vascular wall infection

-Embolism occurs in 25-50% of patients but only 1-5% develop symptomatic mycotic aneurysms

-Most commonly seen in the intracranial arteries, followed by visceral arteries and upper or lower extremely

-Typically involve bifurcation

Comments

ECG Spotter

What is the diagnosis? Click the button below to view answer: Show Answer

The patient contacts the doctor over phone with this report. Obviously anxious because of his high heart rate (199 beats per minute) as detected by ECG machine. Should he be worried about this and come to emergency department as soon as possible? Correct answer- ECG machine has calculated his heart rate incorrectly. Heart rate is around 100 beats per minute. Other findings in this ECG include ST segment elevation in anterior chest leads along with presence of Q waves, denoting old MI changes with possibly development of LV aneurysm. In such cases, ST segment elevation can persist for long periods. Now, should he come to emergency department? Not because of detection of high heart rate. But, if he is having symptoms such as shortness of breath or chest pain, he should visit emergency department. Otherwise, if he is asymptomatic, he can schedule a regular visit with his cardiologist.

Learning Cardiology

Search This Blog