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ccurate diagnosis of prosthetic heart valve infection has major implications on patient management and outcome. If the presence of prosthetic or periprosthetic valve endocarditis is misclassified, it can lead to delayed antibiotic or surgical intervention, which may adversely affect patient outcomes, and that is not inconsequential. Prosthetic valve endocarditis constitutes up to 30% of all cas...

AIM To compare the clinical and morphological characteristics of patients with Streptococcus bovis endocarditis with those of patients with endocarditis caused by other microorganisms. METHODS 177 consecutive patients (Streptococcus bovis, 22; other streptococci, 94; staphylococci, 44; other, 17) with definite infective endocarditis according to the Duke criteria were included. All patients u...

Infective endocarditis is an uncommon disease, with an estimated incidence of 3.1 to 3.7 episodes per 100 000 inhabitants/year. The incidence is highest in elderly people. The microorganisms most frequently isolated in infective endocarditis are staphylococci and streptococci. In the last few decades, the spectrum of heart diseases predisposing to infective endocarditis has changed, since degen...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the mean platelet volume (MPV), an indicator of platelet activation in patients with infective endocarditis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Twenty-nine patients with infective endocarditis and 29 healthy subjects were studied. Plasma MPV values in patients and control subjects were measured on admission and after 2 weeks of specific treatment of infective ...

BACKGROUND Many studies in the literature have warned of the need for investigation of colonic lesions among patients, especially elderly ones, who have bacteremia and/or endocarditis from Streptococcus bovis. Bacteremia and infectious endocarditis from Streptococcus bovis may be related to the presence of neoplastic lesions in the large intestine and hepatic disease. AIM This report describe...

BACKGROUND The prognosis of infective endocarditis is poor and has remained steady over the last 4 decades. Several nonrandomized studies suggest that early surgery could improve prognosis. METHODS ENDOVAL 1 is a multicenter, prospective, randomized study designed to compare the state-of-the-art therapeutic strategy (advised by the international societies in their guidelines) with the early-s...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary valve endocarditis without the involvement of other valves represents 1.5-2% of all cases of infective endocarditis. Isolated pulmonary valve endocarditis caused by Candida is extremely rare with only one reported case in the literature and none reported in the United States. Guidelines for management of Candida endocarditis recommend a combination of medical and surgical t...

BACKGROUND Although the pathologic examination of cardiac valves remains the reference standard for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis, the detection of microorganisms often poses a challenge for pathologists. This can be done by use of nonspecific histochemical stains or by immunohistochemical analysis, but specific antibodies are often not available. We describe a novel method for the de...

Enterococcus hirae is a rare isolate in clinical specimens. We describe a case of native aortic valve endocarditis in a 56-year-old man. This is the third reported case of endocarditis due to this organism, the first without recurrence of endocarditis and the first presenting as a neurological deficit.