Infectious Endocarditis Presenting as Intracranial Hemorrhage in a Patient Admitted for Lumbar Radiculopathy

Abstract

Infectious endocarditis is frequently found in the neurologic intensive care unit and may rarely be the cause of intracranial hemorrhage. In such instances, further diagnostic imaging to search for an underlying structural lesion is prudent. Well-known causes of these hemorrhages include cardioembolism with hemorrhagic transformation, septic emboli, and mycotic aneurysms. We present a case of a patient who was admitted for routine evaluation and pain management of lumbar radiculopathy, who developed a large intraparenchymal hemorrhage and was found to have bacterial endocarditis. This was diagnosed retrospectively from positive hematoma cultures and a vegetation on transesophageal echocardiogram. Further evaluation revealed a mycotic aneurysm.