Histopathological analysis of the mechanisms of intracranial hemorrhage complicating infective endocarditis.

Abstract

These results suggest that hemorrhagic transformation of the ischemic infarct due to septic emboli is the most frequent mechanism leading to intracerebral hemorrhage encountered in patients dying of infective endocarditis and that rupture of pyogenic arteritis may be responsible for such hemorrhage in many cases, with ruptures of mycotic aneurysms as an alternative mechanism.