Abstract
A 53 year-old female was diagnosed as SLE with chronic renal failure. She suffered from sepsis due to infective Enterococcus Fecalis. Echocardiography showed massive aortic regurgitation and aoric valve replacement was recommended. Operative findings showed fresh vegitation on the aortic leaflets and perforation of the right aortic leaflet. Aortic valve replacement was performed with a 17mm prosthetic mechanical heart valve (St. Jude Medical, HP plus). The patient suddenly died during hemodialysis 16 days after the operation. We postulated that the cause of death was from ventricular arrhythmia which is a major contributor to unidentified deaths in HD patients. The prosthetic heart valve did not contribute to the sudden death.
