Native Valve Endocarditis with Aorta-to-Left Atrial Fistula Due to Corynebacterium amycolatum

Infective endocarditis remains a pathology with a high rate of complications and mortality. One of the most dramatic complications is abscess formation. A rare evolution of abscess formation is the development of fistula. We describe an 88-year-old woman with an aortic root abscess and aorta-to-left atrial fistula. To our knowledge this has only been described with streptococcus species as causative micro-organism. In this case the abscess was caused by Corynebacterium amycolatum , which is an infrequently found micro-organism. Copyright 2002 The European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .