Mucinous malignancies, venous thrombosis and terminal endocarditis with emboli: A syndrome

Sixteen definite cases of NBTE were found in a series of 6,459 autopsies. Eight of these cases had multiple large valvular vegetations; 4 had a single large vegetation and 4 disclosed multiple small vegetations. Seven of the 8 cases with the multiple large vegetations had mucus producing carcinoma, clinically significant infarctions of various organs due to emboli from the NBTE and clinical or autopsy evidence of peripheral venous thrombosis. This combination of clinicopathologic findings appears to constitute a definite, though uncommon syndrome, and retrospective review of the patients' charts suggests that it may be possible to establish this diagnosis during life.