An Uncommon Presentation of Aortic Endarteritis

TL;DR

A rare case of aortic endarteritis presented with seizures from a stroke, not fever, in a patient with a heart condition.

Contribution

Highlights an atypical presentation of aortic endarteritis with cerebral hemorrhage instead of fever.

Findings

Aortic endarteritis can present with seizures due to hemorrhagic stroke.

The condition may occur without fever in patients with aortic coarctation.

Septic microemboli can cause cerebral hemorrhage in such cases.

Abstract

Endocarditis is an uncommon infectious complication of congenital heart disease (CHD), typically presenting with fever as its primary symptom; however, its occurrence may not always be accompanied by fever. This paper elaborates on a case involving a patient with surgically corrected Berry syndrome and residual aortic coarctation. The clinical presentation of aortic endarteritis in this case manifested as seizures attributed to a hemorrhagic stroke. In this paper, we aim to raise awareness of this infrequent complication of aortic coarctation, as it may present itself with cerebral hemorrhage due to septic microemboli, even in the absence of fever at its initial presentation.

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