[Recurrent cerebral emboli in nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis].

A 28-year-old woman developed thrombophlebitis migrans and right hemiparesis with motor aphasia. Chest X-ray revealed a plum-sized central infiltrate in the right lower lobe of the lung. Transbronchial lung biopsy showed bronchoalveolar carcinoma. Subsequently recurrent cerebral infarcts developed from which the patient died. Autopsy revealed nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis as the cause of the cerebral infarcts. This form of endocarditis is characterized by the parallel occurrence of arterial emboli and thromboses of the superficial and deep veins. It develops in association with various diseases, especially malignant tumors, and is an expression of a generalized thrombosis disposition.