Echodetection of disseminated endocardial vegetations in a patient with active IV drug abuse

Infective endocarditis is a known complication of intravenous (IV) drug abuse and typically involves cardiac valves, sparing the myocardial endocardium. We present the case of a young IV drug using patient who developed sepsis. Although cardiac symptoms and signs were minimal, an echocardiogram was done as patient had a history of IV drug abuse and was in sepsis. Echocardiogram demonstrated disseminated vegetations involving the left ventricular and right ventricular endocardium while sparing the valves. Although diagnosis of infective endocarditis was made on two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiogram, two-dimensional and three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiograms demonstrated the pattern of endocarditis with clarity. This patient had severe sepsis and bacteremia with Methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus.