In endocarditis, exopolysaccharide production by viridans streptococci has been associated with delayed antimicrobial efficacy in cardiac vegetations. We compared the efficacies of temafloxacin alone and in combination with dextranase, an enzyme capable of hydrolyzing 20 to 90% of the bacterial glycocalyx, in a rabbit model of endocarditis. In in vivo experiments, rabbits were infected intraven...

The in vivo efficacies of amikacin, ceftazidime, and their combination were evaluated in experimental aortic valve endocarditis due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Eighty catheterized rabbits were infected with a P. aeruginosa strain susceptible to both amikacin and ceftazidime and then received no therapy (controls), amikacin (15 mg/kg per day), ceftazidime (100 mg/kg per day), or amikacin-ceftazid...

Thirty three consecutive patients with clinically suspected endocarditis were studied by both precordial cross sectional echocardiography and transoesophageal echocardiography. The diagnostic value of both techniques was assessed. The data were compared with findings at operation in 25 patients. In 21 patients with native valve endocarditis precordial echocardiography showed evidence of vegetat...

A 59-year-old woman was admitted with a presumptive diagnosis of infective endocarditis of a prosthetic aortic valve. Six months earlier, she had undergone aortic valve replacement with a porcine valve for the treatment of aortic valve regurgitation, replacement of the ascending aorta with a Dacron tube-graft, a Cox maze operation, and tricuspid ring annuloplasty. Transthoracic echocardiograms ...

Bacterial endocarditis is a deep, difficult-to-cure infection. Although most organisms are highly susceptible to many antibiotics, therapy must be maintained for weeks in order to eradicate the infection. Moreover, recent clinical observations with teicoplanin have reemphasized that treatment failure can occur, even with very susceptible organisms, after conventional durations of therapy (35). ...

Bacterial endocarditis is a deep, difficult-to-cure infection. Although most organisms are highly susceptible to many antibiotics, therapy must be maintained for weeks in order to eradicate the infection. Moreover, recent clinical observations with teicoplanin have reemphasized that treatment failure can occur, even with very susceptible organisms, after conventional durations of therapy (35). ...