Antiphospholipid Autoantibodies and Brain Ischemic Lesions in Infective Endocarditis.

Stroke is a frequent and severe complication of infective endocarditis (IE).[1] [2] Although different factors associated with a high risk of embolic complications are known,[3] no biomarker has been identified yet. Various autoantibodies have been described in the course of IE, including antiphospholipid (aPL) autoantibodies.[4] [5] [6] Their detection at IE diagnosis may be of particular interest considering the risk of ischemic events. We aimed to determine the frequency of anticardiolipin (aCL), anti-β2GPI (aβ2GPI), antiphosphatidylethanolamine (aPE), and antiphosphatidyl/prothrombin (aPS/PT) autoantibodies in patients with IE and their association with brain ischemic events detected by systematic brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).