Abstract

Marantic, verrucous or nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis, is characterised by the deposition of an amorphous mixture of fibrin and platelets onto heart valves. Although not commonly a cause of death in forensic practice, it may be associated with systemic embolisation. This was observed in a 60-year-old woman who suddenly collapsed and was found at autopsy to have a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the lung with vegetations from marantic endocarditis on the mitral valve and embolisation with infarcts in the left kidney, the spleen, the right occipital cortex of the brain and the left ventricle of the heart. Death was due to coronary artery embolism from marantic endocarditis associated with an undiagnosed adenocarcinoma of the lung. Although marantic endocarditis is more common in hospital autopsies than in forensic cases, it can have lethal complications that result in sudden and unexpected death. Histories of debilitating disease and/or arterial thromboembolic episodes necessitate meticulous examination of the cardiac valves with careful serial sectioning of the major epicardial coronary arteries and histologic sampling of both ventricles.

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Publisher Full Text

Authors

Lee V, Gilbert JD, Byard RW

Institution

Discipline of Anatomy and Pathology, Level 3 Medical School North Building, The University of Adelaide, Frome Rd, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia.

Source

Journal of forensic and legal medicine 19:6 2012 Aug pg 312-5

MeSH

Adenocarcinoma
Brain Infarction
Coronary Thrombosis
Death, Sudden
Endocarditis, Non-Infective
Female
Forensic Pathology
Heart Ventricles
Humans
Infarction
Kidney
Lung Neoplasms
Middle Aged
Mitral Valve
Splenic Infarction

Pub Type(s)

Case Reports
Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22847046