RESUMEN
Background Despite advanced diagnosis and treatment, infective endocarditis (IE) is a potentially life-threatening condition. Although recent studies have provided evidence of changing trends in IE epidemiology, few studies examine patterns within urban minority populations. Here we present the epidemiology, risk factors, and outcomes of IE among an underserved African American population in Brooklyn, New York, compared to the general population. Methods This is a retrospective study which included 67 patients with IE diagnosed at The Brooklyn Hospital Center from 2009 to 2015. Patients were selected according to the modified Duke Criteria for definite IE. Various epidemiological parameters were examined via chi-square and Fisher's exact test using SPSS 24 software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results The mean age of the 67 patients was 63 years and 46.3% of the patients were men. The majority of patients (70.1%) were African American while Hispanics and Caucasians were 17.9% and 7.5%, respectively. Healthcare-associated IE (58.2%, n=39) outnumbered community-acquired IE (41.8%, n=28). The sites of vegetation were the mitral valve (62.7%, n=42), tricuspid valve (22.4%, n=15), aortic valve (11.9%, n=8), and intravenous catheter (3%, n=2). In valves, 13.4% of the cases were found in prosthetic valves while the majority occurred in native valves. The most common pathogens of IE were the Staphylococcus (50.8%, n=34) species, followed by Streptococcus species (32.8%, n=22). Overall, the in-hospital mortality was 38.8% (n=26) with higher mortality observed for healthcare-associated IE than community-acquired IE (P = .049). Embolic complications were associated with significant mortality (P < .001). Conclusion Our study demonstrated that the common causative pathogens for IE among African Americans trends towards Staphylococcus species followed by Streptococcus species, similar to the contemporary epidemiology of IE. Healthcare-associated IE outnumbered community-acquired IE and was associated with higher mortality. Embolic complications were significantly associated with high mortality. Therefore, efforts made to control healthcare-associated infections are expected to decrease the trend of IE.
RESUMEN
Infective endocarditis (IE) secondary to Staphylococcus lugdunensis has been increasingly recognized since 1988. IE-related thromboembolism represents an associated complication of the disease and carries a dismal prognosis. However, the incidence of cerebrovascular accident secondary to S. lugdunensis IE is relatively uncommon and its treatment has not been clearly elucidated yet. We performed an extensive literature search using Pubmed, Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar to identify the articles using the following keywords: 'Staphylococcus lugdunensis', 'infective endocarditis', 'stroke', and 'cerebrovascular accident.' Patient characteristics, risk factors, severity of neurological deficit, echocardiographic findings, medical management, required surgical intervention, complications and mortality rate were reviewed in detail. Eighteen cases (mean age of 47.8 years, 55% male) from 17 publications with S. lugdunensis-related cerebrovascular accident (CVA) were identified. Of these, 16 (87%) cases were left-sided endocarditis and 10 (61%) cases experienced right-sided neurological deficit. The source of infection was documented in eight cases (50%) in which four cases (50%) were related to groin-related procedures and the mitral valve (52.5%) was mostly infected followed by aortic valve (37%). Surgical valve replacement was done in 61% of patients and overall mortality rate was 22%. S. lugdunensis endocarditis is associated with high mortality and morbidity, including a higher prevalence of CVA. Early disease identification with aggressive intervention is crucial for better outcomes.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus lugdunensis, a member of the coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), has been recognized as a causal organism for infective endocarditis since the 1980s. Although most CoNS have an insidious and chronic nature, they are involved in a variety of systemic infections. S lugdunensis infective endocarditis is a rare entity but is as catastrophic as Staphylococcus aureus infective endocarditis and requires aggressive antibiotic therapy and, typically, valve replacement. S lugdunensis infective endocarditis-induced septic embolic cerebrovascular accident has rarely been reported in the literature. CASE REPORT: We present the case of a 63-year-old African American man who presented with sudden-onset aphasia and right-sided hemiplegia and was admitted for the management of cerebrovascular accident. Afterwards, he developed a fever and was found to have S lugdunensis bacteremia, with subsequent imaging revealing vegetations of the mitral valve. Despite being treated with culture-appropriate antibiotics, he remained persistently bacteremic and required surgical mitral valve replacement. CONCLUSION: S lugdunensis infective endocarditis is rare but can have a malignant course and requires early surgical intervention in most cases.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Dermatomyositis is an idiopathic inflammatory myopathy that has been established as one of the many paraneoplastic phenomena. Cardiac involvement can occur with dermatomyositis but has rarely been reported in the literature because symptoms are usually subclinical. CASE REPORT: A 72-year-old female presented with generalized weakness for 1 month after a recent diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma. Her weakness was attributed to a myopathic process that was identified as dermatomyositis after muscle biopsy. Laboratory tests revealed persistently elevated cardiac troponin I despite the absence of cardiac symptoms and a subsequent negative ischemic workup. After administration of intravenous steroids and treatment of the underlying renal cell carcinoma, the patient's cardiac enzymes normalized, suggesting a paraneoplastic etiology of her cardiac manifestations. CONCLUSION: Cardiac involvement as a paraneoplastic process is a rare entity and can present with elevated troponin as shown in our case. Its underlying mechanism has not been clearly elucidated, but this case may shed some light on a new or unknown myocardial manifestation related to malignancy.