Salmonella Typhimurium Abscess Formation in a Calcified Ventricular Aneurysm

A 65-year-old man with a calcified left ventricular aneurysm was hospitalized due to dehydration and hypotension secondary to severe diarrhea. Salmonella typhimurium was isolated from the blood and urine. During a three week hospital course he was persistently febrile and the aneurysm expanded despite the administration of parenteral ampicillin and chloramphenicol. The patient died following ventricular aneurysmectomy. S typhimurium was cultured from the resected aneurysm and microscopic examination of this tissue revealed abscess formation. Presence of a ventricular aneurysm in a patient with salmonellosis not responding to therapy should suggest a focal complication such as that seen in this patient.