Aortic valve replacement for Libman-Sacks endocarditis

Abstract

A 24-year-old man with systemic lupus erythematosus and antiphospholipid syndrome complicated by lupus nephritis presented with acute limb ischaemia secondary to an embolus. Following embolectomy, the patient underwent a transthoracic echocardiogram which revealed a large vegetation on all three cusps of the aortic valve. The patient was taken for an urgent aortic valve replacement with a mechanical valve. Cultures of one cusp remained sterile. Histopathological examination of the remaining two cusps revealed sterile fibrin-rich thrombotic vegetations characteristic of non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis.