Marantic Endocarditis and Lung Adenocarcinoma with Brain Metastasis: A Diagnostic Conundrum
Non-bacterial endocarditis (also known as marantic endocarditis), a term coined by Gross and Fiedberg in 1936, encompasses the non-infectious (sterile) vegetations on structurally normal or superficially damaged cardiac valves in the absence of blood stream infection. Studies have postulated that local physical damage or cytokine mediated damage leads to platelet consumption, activation of clotting factors, and interlacing of fibrin strands that could be contributing to the vegetation formation.