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Infective endocarditis is associated with 18% in-hospital mortality. [24] However, adult patients with congenital heart disease can have relatively lower mortality down to 5% due to younger age, right-sided endocarditis and management by multidisciplinary teams. As many as 50% of people with infective endocarditis may experience embolic ...
Infective endocarditis is an infection of the inner surface of the heart, usually the valves. [3] Symptoms may include fever, small areas of bleeding into the skin, heart murmur, feeling tired, and low red blood cells. [3] Complications may include valvular insufficiency, heart failure, stroke, and kidney failure. [4] [3]
The nodes are commonly indicative of subacute bacterial endocarditis. [3] 10–25% of endocarditis patients will have Osler's nodes. [4] Other signs of endocarditis include Roth's spots and Janeway lesions. The latter, which also occur on the palms and soles, can be differentiated from Osler's nodes because they are non-tender. [2]
Other strains of streptococci can cause subacute endocarditis as well. These include streptococcus intermedius, which can cause acute or subacute infection (about 15% of cases pertaining to infective endocarditis). [7] Enterococci from urinary tract infections and coagulase negative staphylococci can also be causative agents. [5]
However, steroids are generally of no benefit. Patients must be closely monitored for the potential complications (collapse and shock) and may require IV fluids to maintain adequate blood pressure. If available, meptazinol , an opioid analgesic of the mixed agonist/antagonist type, should be administered to reduce the severity of the reaction.
Infective endocarditis used to be classified into groups like acute and subacute based on how quickly the infection developed, but nowadays the key is to identify that microbial cause of infection and to treat it as effectively as possible. Viridans Streptococci is the most common cause.
Infective endocarditis - Infection that affects the inner lining of the heart (endocardium) and can potentially cause a thrombus to form on one or more heart valves and, if left untreated, can cause septic emboli that can have many systemic effects, including deposition into the glomerulus, causing glomerulonephritis and nephritic syndrome. [25]
The HACEK organisms are a group of fastidious Gram-negative bacteria that are an unusual cause of infective endocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart due to bacterial infection. [1] HACEK is an abbreviation of the initials of the genera of this group of bacteria: Haemophilus , Aggregatibacter (previously Actinobacillus ...