Brain abscesses in infective endocarditis: contemporary profile and neuroradiological findings

Background Brain abscesses (BA) are severe lesions in the course of infective endocarditis (IE). We compare the bacteriological, clinical data, background, associated lesions, and outcome of IE patients with and without BAs, and assess the MRI characteristics of BAs. Methods Retrospective study of 351 consecutive patients with definite IE (2005–2020) and at least one brain MRI. Patients with and without BAs were compared. Results Twenty patients (5.7%) had BA (80% men; median age: 44.9 ± 11.5). They were younger ( p = 0.035) and had a higher rate of predisposing factors (previous IE 20% vs 2.2%, p = 0.03), intravenous drug use [25% vs 2.2 %; p