The use of anticoagulants in bacterial endocarditis

Summary Early experience in the treatment of bacterial endocarditis with penicillin suggested that the addition of anticoagulants might improve results. This paper reports a patient with bacterial endocarditis who died from embolic cerebral damage after initiation of treatment with heparin. The evidence suggests that anticoagulants were responsible for her death and that bacterial endocarditis is a relative contra-indication to anticoagulant therapy.