OBJECTIVES Our aim was to determine the diagnostic value of transesophageal echocardiography in right-sided endocarditis. BACKGROUND Recent studies have demonstrated that transesophageal echocardiography is superior to transthoracic echocardiography in the detection of vegetations associated with left-sided endocarditis. Its diagnostic value in right-sided endocarditis has not been establishe...

The endocardial vegetation which is formed in the course of bacterial endocarditis (BE) contains tissue factor (TF)-dependent procoagulant activity. Earlier studies showed that monocytes are the main source of TF in the vegetations. The TF activity (TFA) of vegetations isolated from Streptococcus sanguis-infected rabbits depended on the numbers of bacteria as well as monocytes in the vegetation...

We present the case of a patient with vegetations on a pacing lead from a pacemaker implanted 13 years previously. A new surgical technique for removal of infected leads was developed to avoid the increased risk of septic pulmonary embolism. The electrode with vegetations was removed without cardiopulmonary bypass using the direct surgical approach described.

Endocarditis was produced in rabbits with a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis isolate. Subpopulations resistant to other semisynthetic penicillins and cephalosporins were detected in the isolate. Their presence was probably responsible for the increase in minimum bactericidal concentrations and minimum inhibitory concentrations when tests with high inocula, rather than low inocul...

OBJECTIVE To assess the echocardiographic findings in patients with suspected infective endocarditis. METHODS Two hundred sixty-two patients with suspected infective endocarditis underwent transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiographic investigation. Images of vegetations, valvular abscesses, and acute periprosthetic insufficiency were analyzed, and the correlation with clinical and labo...

A 13-year-old boy with a small ventricular septal defect was admitted with clinical manifestations of acute endocarditis. Coagulase-positive staphylococci were isolated from the blood. Definitive diagnosis was made by detecting bacterial vegetations in the right ventricle on the echocardiogram. Repeated embolization of these vegetations to the pulmonary circulation led to the death of the patient.

Using a rabbit model of Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis, we studied the effects of aspirin on the natural progression of this infection. Compared with untreated animals, the aspirin-treated animals showed a 30% (P = 0.11) reduction in the weight of the vegetations and an 84% (P = 0.03) reduction in the bacterial titer of the vegetations.

This study evaluated the daptomycin activity against two methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE) clinical isolates with different vancomycin susceptibilities: MRSE-375, with a vancomycin MIC of 2 microg/ml, and NRS6, a glycopeptide-intermediate S. epidermidis (GISE) strain with a vancomycin MIC of 8 microg/ml. The in vivo activity of daptomycin at two different doses (standard d...

In the pathogenesis of bacterial endocarditis (BE), the clotting system plays a cardinal role in the formation and maintenance of the endocardial vegetations. The extrinsic pathway is involved in the activation of the coagulation pathway with tissue factor (TF) as the key protein. Staphylococcus aureus is a frequently isolated bacterium from patients with BE. We therefore investigated whether S...