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PubMed1996

Surgical treatment of acute endocarditis of the aortic valve with paravalvular abscess: considerations justifying the use of mechanical replacement devices.

OBJECTIVE: Early recurrency after surgery for acute endocarditis is a life-threatening complication. Allograft valves are supposed to have a higher resistance to recurrent infection, thus several authors claim them to be the replacement device of choice in cases of aortic endocarditis. However, allografts have two major drawbacks: their availability is limited, and most of the patients require reoperation for graft calcification of degeneration. Until now there has been no prospective study analysing whether early recurrency after surgery of acute endocarditis is associated with the mechanical valve per se or with factors related to the surgical technique or postoperative care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We present a prospective study on 36 consecutive patients with acute endocarditis of the aortic valve with paravalvular abscesses. In this series, there were 5 women and 31 men with a mean age of 50.3 years. All patients were operated before a course of antibiotic therapy was completed. Abscesses were radically resected and the cavities closed either with direct suture or, if not possible, with Dacron patches. For aortic valve replacement, a mechanical valve was used in every patient. RESULTS: The early mortality in this series was 14%, only one patient experienced recurrent endocarditis and underwent reoperation. The results compare well with those achieved after valve replacements with allograft valves. CONCLUSION: We conclude that, even in cases of acute endocarditis, replacement of the aortic valve with a mechanical device is an acceptable alternative to the allograft, if radical surgical debridement and adequate antibiotic therapy are performed.

Abscess↗
PubMed1999

Infective endocarditis in renal transplant recipients.

Because of the increasing number of renal transplantations performed and the rarity of reported cases of infective endocarditis in these patients, we studied the clinical characteristics of this infection in this population. We report on two cases from our experience and review reported cases of infective endocarditis in renal transplant recipients retrieved from the MEDLINE system. In addition, we reviewed a large series of infective endocarditis looking for patients with renal transplants. In addition to our 2 cases, 12 previously reported cases were found. The mean time from transplantation to diagnosis of infective endocarditis was 3.5 years (range 2 months to 15 years). Causative organisms included fungi, Staphylococcus aureus (3 cases each), Corynebacterium sp. (2 cases), Streptococcus viridans, VRE, Brucella sp., Clostridium sp., Nocardia sp. and Erysipelothrix sp. (one case each). Skin manifestations of endocarditis and/or splenomegaly were not reported in these patients. Septic emboli and mycotic aneurysms were relatively common. The overall mortality rate was 50% (7 of 14 patients died). Infective endocarditis seems to be rare in renal transplant recipients. The few reported cases are characterized by unusual causative micro-organisms and atypical clinical presentation. Further studies are needed to delineate the magnitude and scope of this association.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Long-term survival of dialysis patients with bacterial endocarditis in the United States.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of bacterial endocarditis is much greater in long-term dialysis patients compared with the general population, and chronic kidney disease has been postulated as an independent host-related risk factor. Limited data are available on the long-term survival of dialysis patients with endocarditis. METHODS: Dialysis patients hospitalized for bacterial endocarditis between 1977 and 2000 were studied retrospectively using data from the US Renal Data System database. Long-term survival was estimated by means of the life-table method. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify the impact of demographic characteristics and comorbidity on outcome. RESULTS: A total of 13,130 dialysis patients with bacterial endocarditis were identified. The in-hospital mortality rate for the entire cohort was 23.5%. Survival rates at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years were 45.9%, 33.3%, 24.3%, and 14.7% for patients hospitalized between 1977 and 1991 and 41.0%, 29.1%, 20.6%, and 10.9% for those hospitalized between 1992 and 1996, respectively. Survival rates at 1, 2, and 3 years were 38.4%, 25.3%, and 18.3% for patients hospitalized between 1997 and 2000, respectively. The most powerful independent predictors of all-cause death were age, diabetes as cause of end-stage renal disease, and cerebrovascular accident or transient ischemic attack as a comorbid condition. CONCLUSION: Dialysis patients with bacterial endocarditis have poor long-term survival, even in the current treatment era, with survival rates changing little in the past 2 decades. Additional studies are needed to identify risk-reduction measures and develop additional treatment strategies for dialysis patients with endocarditis.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Determinants of prognosis in 300 episodes of infective endocarditis.

We studied 300 episodes of infective endocarditis in 287 patients to evaluate clinical and laboratory determinants of prognosis by estimating the probability of in-hospital death. The patients' ages ranged from 2 months to 78 (mean 30.76 +/- 16.06) years; 185 (62%) episodes occurred in male and 115 (38%) in female patients. A total of 386 complications occurred in 223 (74%) episodes of endocarditis. The infecting microorganisms were streptococci in 147 episodes, Staphylococcus aureus in 59, Staphylococcus epidermidis in 14, gram-negative bacteria in 16, other gram-positive bacteria in 8, fungi in 4. The causative microorganism was not identified in 52 episodes (negative blood cultures). The underlying cardiac disease was valvular in 119 episodes, congenital in 37, prosthetic heart valve in 69, and others in 6. No previous heart disease was identified in 69 episodes. Surgical treatment was carried out in 102 (34%) patients. Overall, 78 (26%) patients died. The probability of death was estimated with a logistic regression model (stepwise procedure). The model with best prediction included the cardiac status previous to the endocarditis, the causative microorganism, the occurrence of complications, and the blood leukocyte count. The most important variable in predicting in-hospital death was the occurrence of complications, followed by cardiac status (prosthetic valve endocarditis), the infecting microorganism, and leukocyte count. The model underestimated the severity of the disease in patients with acute endocarditis and overestimated in patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis submitted to surgical treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Bacterial endocarditis in childhood].

BACKGROUND: Bacterial endocarditis in childhood is a rare but serious disease. The group of children with congenital heart disease at risk to develop bacterial endocarditis increases, because more children survive with advanced medical and surgical management. Rheumatic Fever as predisposing heart disease decreases and is of reduced importance. PATIENTS: From 1983 to 1993 16 patients in the age of 0.3 to 17.6 years (mean 10.6 years) were received by the Department of Pediatric Cardiology of the University Children's Hospital Vienna with the diagnosis "bacterial endocarditis". A congenital heart disease was known previously in 13 cases: 4 children had VSD, 2 children had Tetralogy of Fallot, 1 child had a single ventricle and an infundibular pulmonary stenosis, 4 children had pulmonary atresia, 1 child had a cleft of the mitral valve, and 1 child had a coronary artery fistula. Moreover, 1 child had a mitral valve prolapse with valvular regurgitation as a consequence of Marfan-Syndrome. 6 children with congenital heart disease had been treated surgically previously. METHODS: Medical data of all patients with the diagnosis of "bacterial endocarditis" between 1983 and 1993 were analysed. It was this period when echocardiography was used for the first time to contribute to diagnosis and course control. RESULTS: In 11 of 16 cases positive blood cultures were obtained. Mostly Streptococcus viridans (4 cases) and Staphylococcus aureus (3 cases) were isolated. During the parenteral therapy with antibiotics 9 children suffered as a side effect from a drug induced fever and/or decreasing leucocytes and thrombocytes or a rash. In addition to the antibiotic therapy 8 children were treated surgically. One child died immediatly after the operation. 15 of the 16 patients with endocarditis survived. CONCLUSIONS: With children with known heart disease the recommendations for the prevention of bacterial endocarditis have to be strictly followed and every long ongoing feverish disease has to be carefully examinated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

A controlled evaluation of the risk of bacterial endocarditis in persons with mitral-valve prolapse.

The absence of controlled evidence and the high prevalence of mitral-valve prolapse have created substantial uncertainty about whether this condition is an important risk factor for bacterial endocarditis. We evaluated this risk in a case-control study of hospital inpatients who had undergone echocardiography and who lacked any known cardiovascular risk factors for endocarditis, apart from mitral-valve prolapse and isolated mitral-regurgitant murmurs. Thirteen (25 per cent) of 51 patients with endocarditis had mitral-valve prolapse, as compared with 10 (seven per cent) of the 153 matched controls without endocarditis. For the 51 matched case-control sets, the odds ratio (8.2; 95 per cent confidence interval, 2.4 to 28.4) indicated a substantially higher risk of endocarditis for people with mitral-valve prolapse than for those without it. This association remained statistically significant when parenteral drug abuse and routine antibiotic prophylaxis preceding dental work and other forms of instrumentation were taken into account. Furthermore, the risk may be higher than is indicated by this study, since 46 per cent of the controls underwent echocardiography for clinically suspected mitral-valve prolapse, suggesting an overrepresentation of mitral prolapse in the control group. The results support the contention that mitral-valve prolapse is a significant risk factor for bacterial endocarditis.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Bartonella and Coxiella antibodies in 334 prospectively studied episodes of infective endocarditis in Sweden.

Bartonella spp. have been identified as aetiological agents in culture-negative infective endocarditis (IE). Coxiella burnetii may cause chronic Q-fever with endocarditis, 334 blood samples collected from 329 patients (334 episodes) with IE diagnosed between 1984 and 1996 in Göteborg, Sweden, were investigated for antibodies to Bartonella spp. and C. burnetii. 71 of the episodes (21%) were blood culture negative. A microimmunofluorescence assay revealed immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to Bartonella in 13 of the culture verified episodes and in 2 of the culture-negative episodes. Three of the patients had IgG antibodies to > or = 200 in the blood culture-verified group, but none had a titre > or = 800, the cut-off level for Bartonella endocarditis. One patient had elevated antibodies to C. burnetii, diagnosing chronic Q-fever endocarditis. In conclusion, serologically verified Bartonella endocarditis is not prevalent in western Sweden and Q-fever endocarditis is rare.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1997

An evaluation of the Duke criteria in 25 pathologically confirmed cases of prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Six studies have compared the sensitivity of the Duke criteria with that of the Beth Israel criteria for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis without attempting to distinguish between native valve and prosthetic valve cases. After reviewing clinical data from 372 cases of suspected prosthetic valve endocarditis, we selected 25 cases in which pathological confirmation of prosthetic valve endocarditis was obtained. By using the Duke criteria and then the Beth Israel criteria, we reassigned a diagnostic classification to these 25 cases on the basis of clinical parameters alone. Using the Duke criteria, we correctly classified 19 cases (76%) as definite endocarditis and rejected none, while the Beth Israel criteria correctly classified six cases as probable endocarditis (24%) and rejected five cases (20%). Similar to previous investigators who examined the diagnostic sensitivity of the Duke criteria and Beth Israel criteria, we found that the Duke criteria appear more sensitive than the Beth Israel criteria in pathologically confirmed cases of prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Drug Resistance, Microbial↗
PubMed1998

A guinea pig model for Q fever endocarditis.

A new model of experimental endocarditis, using electrocoagulation of native aortic valves, was used for the study of Q fever endocarditis. In the 20 guinea pigs electrocoagulated and inoculated with Coxiella burnetii Nine Mile phase I strain, 10 presented with infective endocarditis. Of these, 7 died spontaneously. All guinea pigs with endocarditis presented with blood cultures positive for C. burnetii, and C. burnetii antigen was found in their cardiac valves. Positive blood cultures or valvular immunopositive cells were not identified in either nonelectrocoagulated or noninoculated controls. This experimental model demonstrates that Q fever in an animal with previously damaged valves results in endocarditis. It could provide a new tool for the investigation of pathophysiology and antibiotic therapy for Q fever endocarditis.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Bartonella (Rochalimaea) species as a cause of apparent "culture-negative" endocarditis.

Bartonella quintana (formerly Rochalimaea quintana) is a recently recognized cause of apparent "culture-negative" endocarditis. We describe a 39-year-old, homeless man who developed aortic valve endocarditis caused by B. quintana. He had a history of alcoholism and was seronegative for the human immunodeficiency virus. We established that B. quintana was the cause of the endocarditis on the basis of the isolation of B. quintana from blood cultures, the compatibility of histochemical stains of cardiac valve tissue, the reactivity of the polymerase chain reaction specific for B. quintana on cardiac valve tissue, and the failure to isolate an alternative causative organism despite extensive efforts. This is the second report of endocarditis caused by B. quintana and the fourth report of endocarditis caused by a Bartonella species. On the basis of the findings of this report and those of other recent reports, further study is warranted to determine the overall role of Bartonella species in apparent culture-negative endocarditis.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Endocarditis caused by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: case report and review.

Stenotrophomonas (Xanthomonas) maltophilia is a rare cause of endocarditis. The extensive resistance of this organism to several antibiotics leaves few options for antimicrobial therapy. In vitro synergism of the combination of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ) and ticarcillin/clavulanic acid (TIC/CA) has been demonstrated. To our knowledge, we report the first case of ventriculoatrial cerebrospinal fluid shunt-associated endocarditis due to S. maltophilia. The patient was cured with combination therapy with TMP-SMZ and TIC/CA along with catheter removal. This is also the first report of S. maltophilia endocarditis successfully treated with this antibiotic combination. In a review of the medical literature, only 16 cases of S. maltophilia endocarditis were found. Most patients were intravenous drug users (43.8%) or had either prosthetic heart valves (50%) or an indwelling vascular catheter (18.8%). Although S. maltophilia is usually considered a nosocomial pathogen, about one-half of the cases were community-acquired. Twelve of sixteen patients had left-sided endocarditis. Therapy with a combination of two or more antibiotics was employed in most cases. Seven patients had been given TMP-SMZ therapy, but none had been treated with TIC/CA before. One-half of the patients required cardiac surgery. The overall mortality rate was 33%. Although the optimal antibiotic treatment for S. maltophilia endocarditis remains unknown, the case reported herein reinforces in vitro findings that the combination of TMP-SMZ and TIC/CA may be effective therapy.

Clavulanic Acids↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Group B streptococcal endocarditis: report of seven cases and review of the literature, 1962-1985.

Infective endocarditis is an uncommon manifestation of group B streptococcal disease. Seven cases of group B streptococcal endocarditis are reported herein. Another fifty-five cases published in the literature since 1962 are reviewed: the male to female ratio was 1.4:1. The average age was 53.8 years, and 45% of patients were 60 years of age or older. Two cases of nonsocomial endocarditis and two cases of polymicrobial endocarditis were identified. There were five cases of prosthetic valve endocarditis. Mitral and aortic valvular involvement were present in 48% and 29% of cases, respectively. Underlying heart disease was found in more than half of the cases. Rheumatic heart disease was the commonest underlying cardiac condition. Noncardiac underlying conditions included diabetes mellitus, alcoholism, pregnancy, intravenous drug abuse, and genitourinary disease. Onset was varied as was initial presentation of the disease. Large arterial thrombi were common. Overall mortality was 43.5%. Penicillin is the treatment of choice for group B streptococcal endocarditis. However, based on in vitro and in vivo studies as well as case reports, some authors feel that the combination of penicillin and an aminoglycoside is a superior regimen. Cephalothin or vancomycin are alternatives for patients who are allergic to penicillin.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Bacteremia in narcotic addicts at the Detroit Medical Center. II. Infectious endocarditis: a prospective comparative study.

For one year all narcotic addicts admitted to the Detroit Medical Center with infectious endocarditis (74 cases) were compared with a control group of bacteremic addicts who had other infections (106 cases). Endocarditis was caused by Staphylococcus aureus (60.8% of cases), streptococci (16.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (13.5%), mixed bacteria (8.1%), and Corynebacterium JK (1.4%). S. aureus endocarditis most frequently involved the tricuspid valve; streptococci infected left-sided valves significantly more often than other organisms (P = .001). Biventricular and multiple-valve infections were commonest in patients with pseudomonas endocarditis (P = .05). Two-dimensional echocardiography, when combined with an abnormal chest roentgenogram, was highly predictive of endocarditis. Bacteremia in the absence of endocarditis was associated with primary skin and soft tissue infection, mycotic aneurysm at the site of narcotic injection, septic arthritis, septic thrombophlebitis, pneumonia, osteomyelitis, mediastinal abscess, and unclassified infection. Polymicrobial bacteremia in the nonendocarditis group was associated with markedly increased morbidity. Mild hyponatremia occurred in 41% of all patients and was also associated with significantly increased morbidity. Analysis of the two groups disclosed similarities and differences with implications for the pathophysiology and treatment of addicts with bacteremic infection.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Echocardiographic assessment of prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Prosthetic valve endocarditis is still a very serious complication, carrying an incidence of death between 30 and 70% in some series. Therefore early and accurate diagnosis is crucial. Early (less than 60 days post surgery) endocarditis is usually a fulminant disease, where staphylococcal infection is most common. Late prosthetic endocarditis resembles more closely other forms of the disease. Conventional echocardiography is useful in the evaluation of prosthetic valve function, but it is very limited in the demonstration of infective lesions, primarily because of acoustic shadowing. Transoesophageal echocardiography (TE) enables high resolution imaging of the heart without chest wall interference, and viewing of the heart from the posterior (atrial, low pressure) side, where most of the vegetations are expected to be found in both mitral and tricuspid positions. It also enables better visualization of the left ventricular outflow tract, where aortic prosthetic vegetations tend to be present. Furthermore, transoesophageal echocardiography allows accurate diagnosis of some of the common complications of endocarditis: abscess/cavity formation; mycotic aneurysm; prosthetic valve dehiscence and regurgitation. In spite of these advantages, limitations should be recognized. Struts are commonly seen on transoesophageal echocardiography following surgery and should not be confused with vegetations. Similarly, normal prosthetic regurgitation should not be confused with paravalvar leakage. Nevertheless, transoesophageal echocardiography, when expertly used, changes the possibility for early and more accurate diagnosis of prosthetic valve endocarditis dramatically. Transoesophageal echocardiography should be included among the major criteria in the diagnosis and follow-up of prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Medical treatment of staphylococcal infective endocarditis.

Staphylococcal infective endocarditis is a severe event requiring aggressive therapy. Antibiotic regimen depends mainly on (1) the species of Staphylococcus (Staphylococcus aureus versus coagulase-negative staphylococci) and its resistance pattern (resistance to penicillin, to methicillin, to multiple classes of antibiotics); (2) the type of infected valve (native versus prosthetic); (3) the site of infection (left side versus right side endocarditis); (4) some underlying conditions of the host, in particular the presence or not of intravenous drug abuse. Based on in vitro susceptibility results, animal models and clinical trials, the following regimens are currently recommended. For native valve endocarditis, penicillin G 20 million units per day i.v. for 4-6 weeks for penicillin-susceptible strains; a penicillinase-resistant penicillin (oxacillin) 2 g i.v. q 4 h for 4-6 weeks plus an aminoglycoside (gentamicin) 1.0 mg.kg-1 i.v. q 8 h for 1 week, for penicillin-resistant, methicillin-susceptible strains; for methicillin resistant strains, vancomycin 30 mg.kg.day-1 i.v. in 2-4 doses for 4-6 weeks with the addition or not of rifampin 600-900 mg.day-1 orally. For a prosthetic valve endocarditis, a three-drug regimen (oxacillin or vancomycin, plus gentamicin and rifampin) and a longer duration (6 weeks or more) are generally recommended. Shorter (2 weeks) treatment could be delivered to uncomplicated cases of right-sided endocarditis. In view of an increased resistance to classic drugs and suboptimal efficacy of some of them, new therapeutic modalities should be looked at, in particular for endocarditis cases due to methicillin-resistant strains.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1984

The role of echocardiography in suspected bacterial endocarditis.

We evaluated the clinical application of echocardiography (M and 2D modes) in the assessment of cardiac patients with fever and an underlying valvular abnormality in whom the diagnosis of infective endocarditis was suspected. One or more of the classic clinical features of the disease were present in 50 patients (group A). Vegetations were detected by echocardiography in 17 (47%) out of the 36 patients within this group A who had positive blood cultures. Four (28.5%) of the remaining 14 patients with unequivocal endocarditis clinically and negative blood cultures had demonstrable vegetations on ultrasound. Anatomical complications resulting from the septic process (valve destruction or detachment, aortic root abscess) were visualized in 18 (36%) of the 50 patients in group A. The clinical features of endocarditis were lacking in the other 53 patients with fever and murmur (group B). This group included 12 patients with other sources of bacteraemia besides endocarditis. Unsuspected vegetations were detected only in 2 (3.7%) out of the 53 cases. Thus echocardiography is useful in confirming the clinical diagnosis of infective endocarditis, but only rarely detects vegetations in patients who lack the characteristic clinical features of endocarditis, regardless of whether they have positive negative blood cultures.

Bioprosthesis↗
PubMed1979

Circulating immune complexes in experimental streptococcal endocarditis: a monitor of therapeutic efficacy.

An important problem in the management of infective endocarditis has been the delineation of laboratory procedures that are sensitive, reliable indicators of therapeutic efficacy. Because circulating, complement-containing immune complexes of the IgG type (CICs) have been demonstrated in most humans with infective endocarditis, serum CIC levels during the natural course of the infection and in response to penicillin therapy were studied in 42 rabbits with right-sided endocarditis due to Streptococcus salivarius. A significant rise in the level of CICs in both 21 control rabbits and 21 treated rabbits was observed after induction but before treatment of infective endocarditis (P less than 0.01). In the 17 successfully treated rabbits, CIC levels fell sharply during the first week of therapy and remained at preinduction levels thereafter (P less than 0.005). In contrast, CIC values did not change significantly either in control animals or in the four treated animals with refractory endocarditis, although in the latter animals, serum bactericidal titers remained less than or equal to 1:32. These findings suggest that serial measurements of CIC levels during antimicrobial therapy of infective endocarditis may aid in monitoring therapeutic efficacy.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Antibiotic prophylaxis of experimental endocarditis due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Antibiotic prophylaxis for the prevention of endocarditis due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE) was evaluated in a modified rabbit endocarditis model and compared with results obtained with methicillin-sensitive S. epidermidis (MSSE). One dose of nafcillin, cefamandole, cephalothin, or vancomycin neither prevented endocarditis nor sterilized the blood of rabbits challenged with each of two MRSE or two MSSE isolates. One dose of gentamicin protected greater than or equal to 80% of animals challenged with three of the four isolates, and one dose of rifampin protected greater than or equal to 90% challenged with any of the four isolates. Multiple doses of any of the antibiotics prevented endocarditis in greater than or equal to 80% of rabbits challenged with MSSE, and four doses of vancomycin protected rabbits challenged with MRSE. However, MRSE endocarditis was prevented in less than or equal to 25% of animals given six doses of nafcillin or cephalosporins. Thus, nafcillin and cephalosporins were ineffective prophylaxis for MRSE endocarditis, whereas vancomycin, gentamicin, and rifampin were effective.

Animals↗