[Aortitis after G-CSF injections].

Introduction: Aortitis consists in aortic wall inflammation from infectious or non infectious cause. It may lead to aortic aneurysm with a risk of rupture, which is life-threatening and may justify surgical procedures. The cause of the aortitis is sometimes obscure.

[Communication between the left ventricle and the right atrium in infectious endocarditis. Diagnosis using Doppler-echocardiography].

The diagnosis of a communication between the left ventricle and right atrium was made by transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography in a 67 year old man with a recurrence of a methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus infectious endocarditis complicating aortic valve replacement with a bioprosthesis seven weeks previously. This diagnosis was confirmed at surgery; the left ventricular-right atrial communication was closed by suturing its edges and a new aortic valve prosthesis was implanted. Unfortunately, the patient died 4 months later of myocardial dysfunction although the infectious endocarditis seemed to have been sterilised by antibiotic therapy.