Staphylococcus aureus Endocarditis with Multivalvular Involvement Secondary to an Atrial Septal Defect

Infective endocarditis is usually diagnosed using modified Duke’s criteria. Our patient had a subacute presentation and a low suspicion for endocarditis during admission, unfortunately leading to her death. Despite advances in diagnostic and therapeutic measures including antibiotic therapy and surg...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vistasp Jimmy Daruwalla, Jahnavi Sagi, Hassan Tahir, Srikanth Penumetsa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2016-01-01
Series:Case Reports in Cardiology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/3793968
Description
Summary:Infective endocarditis is usually diagnosed using modified Duke’s criteria. Our patient had a subacute presentation and a low suspicion for endocarditis during admission, unfortunately leading to her death. Despite advances in diagnostic and therapeutic measures including antibiotic therapy and surgical techniques, morbidity and mortality with staphylococcal infective endocarditis remain high. Hence, we stress the significance of having a low threshold for TEE in patients with multisystem involvement due to Staphylococcus aureus that have evidence of persistent infection despite antibiotic treatment, even if the suspicion for endocarditis is low based on Duke’s criteria. TEE substantially improves the sensitivity of diagnosis but may not be readily available in many medical centers. Presence of an ASD has been noted to have increased the risk of left sided endocarditis even with conditions that predispose to right sided endocarditis, particularly in patients with hemodialysis and diabetes as morbid risk factors.
ISSN:2090-6404
2090-6412