Endocarditis infecciosa por bacilos gram negativos no HACEK. Experiencia en un centro de alta complejidad de la República Argentina (1998-2016) / Infective endocarditis due to non-HACEK gram-negative bacilli in a Level III cardiovascular center in Argentina (1998-2016)

Los bacilos gram negativos (BGN) que no pertenecen al grupo HACEK son una causa infrecuente de endocarditis infecciosa. Los aspectos epidemiológicos, diagnósticos y pronósticos de esta entidad son poco conocidos y la experiencia aún es limitada. Nuestros objetivos fueron analizar las características clínicas y microbiológicas de las endocarditis infecciosas (EI) por BGN no HACEK diagnosticadas en un centro de alta complejidad de Argentina en el período 1998-2016 y conocer su evolución hospitalaria, a fin de compararlas con las EI debidas a otros microorganismos.

Non-HACEK Gram-negative bacilli are a rare cause of infective endocarditis. Epidemiological, diagnostic and prognostic aspects of this entity are little known, and there is limited experience. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical, microbiological and in-hospital outcomes of non-HACEK Gram negative bacilli endocarditis and to compare them with those due to other microorganisms.

Surveillance for Q Fever Endocarditis in the United States, 1999-2015.

BACKGROUND: Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii. In some persons, particularly those with cardiac valve disease, infection with C. burnetii can cause a life-threatening infective endocarditis. There are few descriptive analyses of Q fever endocarditis in the United States. METHODS: Q fever case report forms submitted during 1999-2015 were reviewed to identify reports describing endocarditis. Cases were categorized as confirmed or probable using criteria defined by the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE). Demographic, laboratory, and clinical data were analyzed. RESULTS: Of 140 case report forms reporting endocarditis, 49 met the confirmed definition and 36 met the probable definition. Eighty-two percent were male and the median age was 57 years (range, 16-87 years). Sixty-seven patients (78.8%) were hospitalized, and 5 deaths (5.9%) were reported. Forty-five patients (52.9%) had a preexisting valvulopathy. Eight patients with endocarditis had phase I immunoglobulin G antibody titers >800 but did not meet the CSTE case definition for Q fever endocarditis. CONCLUSIONS: These data summarize a limited set of clinical and epidemiological features of Q fever endocarditis collected through passive surveillance in the United States. Some cases of apparent Q fever endocarditis could not be classified by CSTE laboratory criteria, suggesting that comparison of phase I and phase II titers could be reexamined as a surveillance criterion. Prospective analyses of culture-negative endocarditis are needed to better assess the clinical spectrum and magnitude of Q fever endocarditis in the United States.

Apuntes sobre la fisiopatología, etiología, diagnóstico, tratamiento y profilaxis de la endocarditis infecciosa / Notes on the physiopathology, etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis of infective endocarditis

La endocarditis infecciosa es una afección de difícil diagnóstico en Cardiología, con características clínicas muy variadas y una epidemiología cambiante en los últimos años. En la presente revisión se tratan aspectos novedosos sobre su clasificación, etiología y fisiopatología; además, se presentan las herramientas fundamentales para su diagnóstico, punto de partida para su tratamiento médico basado primordialmente en la terapia antimicrobiana, así como los criterios quirúrgicos y la conducta actual en la profilaxis antimicrobiana de esta compleja entidad(AU)

Infective endocarditis is a disease of difficult diagnosis in cardiology, with highly variable clinical characteristics and changing epidemiology in the last few years. The present review dealt with novel aspects on classification, etiology and physiopathology of the disease in addition to the presentation of the fundamental tools for diagnosis, which is the starting point for the medical treatment basically supported on the antimicrobial therapy. It also set forth the surgical criteria and the present performance in the antimicrobial prophylaxis of this complex disease(AU)

Apuntes sobre la fisiopatología, etiología, diagnóstico, tratamiento y profilaxis de la endocarditis infecciosa / Notes on the physiopathology, etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prophylaxis of infective endocarditis

La endocarditis infecciosa es una afección de difícil diagnóstico en Cardiología, con características clínicas muy variadas y una epidemiología cambiante en los últimos años. En la presente revisión se tratan aspectos novedosos sobre su clasificación, etiología y fisiopatología; además, se presentan las herramientas fundamentales para su diagnóstico, punto de partida para su tratamiento médico basado primordialmente en la terapia antimicrobiana, así como los criterios quirúrgicos y la conducta actual en la profilaxis antimicrobiana de esta compleja entidad.

Infective endocarditis is a disease of difficult diagnosis in cardiology, with highly variable clinical characteristics and changing epidemiology in the last few years. The present review dealt with novel aspects on classification, etiology and physiopathology of the disease in addition to the presentation of the fundamental tools for diagnosis, which is the starting point for the medical treatment basically supported on the antimicrobial therapy. It also set forth the surgical criteria and the present performance in the antimicrobial prophylaxis of this complex disease.

[News on Bartonella infections]. / Novinky v problematice bartonelovych infekci.

The review specifies 25 Bartonella species known so far and describes epidemiology and pathogenesis of Bartonella infections which are classified using patient symptomatology including culture-negative endocarditis. Microbiological diagnosis and significant principles of antibiotic therapy of Bartonella infections are also stated.

Endocarditis Bacteriana en paciente con sospecha de padecer Colagenopatía. Reporte de Caso / Bacterial endocarditis in patients with suspected collagen disease. Case Report

La endocarditis es la inflamación del endotelio valvular o parietal. La fisiopatología de la endocarditis se basa en la lesión del endotelio cardíaco que predispone a la formación de la vegetación, la cual consiste en una masa de plaquetas, fibrina y escasas células inflamatorias. En países industrializados la incidencia anual de la endocarditis infecciosa es de 3 a 9 casos por cada 100.000 personas. Las colagenopatías pueden lesionar el endotelio cardíaco predisponiendo así a una endocarditis infecciosa, aun siendo el paciente seronegativo para las pruebas reumatológicas. Se presenta el caso de una paciente de 38 años que consulta por dolores articulares y sensación febril de larga data en quien se diagnostica endocarditis bacteriana, sospechándose una enfermedad autoinmune de base por la cronicidad de la sintomatología y el grado de lesión de las válvulas nativas que terminan siendo reemplazadas por válvulas mecánicas; no se ha llegado a confirmar el origen autoinmune de la afectación valvular. Palabras clave: endocarditis, seronegativo, afectación valvular, colagenopatías.

Endocarditis is inflammation of the parietal or valvular endothelium. The pathophysiology of endocarditis is based on cardiac endothelium lesions predisposing to the formation of vegetation, which consists of a mass of platelets, fibrin and inflammatory cells. In industrialized countries, the annual incidence of infective endocarditis is 3-9 cases per 100,000 individuals. Collagen vascular disease can damage the heart and predispose an individual to infectious endocarditis, even if a patient is seronegative for rheumatologic serum markers of disease. We report the case of a 38-year female patient who presented with longstanding joint pain and fevers, who was diagnosed with endocarditis and in whom an autoimmune disease was suspected based on the chronicity of her symptoms and the degree of injury to her native heart valve that required replacement with a mechanical valve. The underlying autoimmune etiology of the damage to her heart valve has not been determined. Keywords: endocarditis, seronegative, valvular disease, collagen

Can implantable cardiac electronic device infections be defined as 'early' or 'late' based on the cause of infection?

Implantable cardiac electronic device (ICED) infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Understanding the pathogenesis of these infections is important in their prevention and management. We hypothesized that ICED infections could be classified as 'early' or 'late', based on differences in microbiological cause within or beyond 1 year of implantation, respectively. A comprehensive review of the literature was undertaken to test this hypothesis. Prosthetic valve endocarditis cases were included for comparison. Articles were included if the time from device implantation to infection, definite evidence of infection (pocket/bacteraemia/endocarditis) and a positive microbiological diagnosis were included. There were no statistically significant differences in microbiology to support a 1 year cut-off between early and late ICED infection. Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci were the predominant causes of ICED infection both within and beyond 1 year of ICED implantation. To further assess the microbiological causes of ICEDs and their implications for pathogenesis a large-scale multi-centre study is required.

Complexity and subtlety of infective endocarditis.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is an uncommon clinical entity that, if unrecognized, leads to serious morbidity and mortality. Approximately 15,000 new cases of IE occur in the United States each year. Despite advances in early diagnosis, antimicrobial treatment, and surgical techniques, reported mortality from referral centers has changed little throughout several decades. Early recognition of IE requires understanding of its epidemiology, risk factors, clinical presentations, physical examination signs, microbiological associations, and electrocardiographic and chest radiographic findings. Once IE is suspected, further testing with blood cultures and echocardiography can confirm the diagnosis and lead to early treatment with bactericidal antibiotics and surgery when appropriate, thus reducing the morbidity and mortality of IE. Unrecognized and untreated, IE is invariably fatal. Early recognition of IE and an in-depth understanding of the clinical vagaries of IE are mandatory for all patient care providers.

Contribution of systematic serological testing in diagnosis of infective endocarditis.

Despite progress with diagnostic criteria, the type and timing of laboratory tests used to diagnose infective endocarditis (IE) have not been standardized. This is especially true with serological testing. Patients with suspected IE were evaluated by a standard diagnostic protocol. This protocol mandated an evaluation of the patients according to the modified Duke criteria and used a battery of laboratory investigations, including three sets of blood cultures and systematic serological testing for Coxiella burnetii, Bartonella spp., Aspergillus spp., Legionella pneumophila, and rheumatoid factor. In addition, cardiac valvular materials obtained at surgery were subjected to a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, including PCR aimed at documenting the presence of fastidious organisms. The study included 1,998 suspected cases of IE seen over a 9-year period from April 1994 to December 2004 in Marseilles, France. They were evaluated prospectively. A total of 427 (21.4%) patients were diagnosed as having definite endocarditis. Possible endocarditis was diagnosed in 261 (13%) cases. The etiologic diagnosis was established in 397 (93%) cases by blood cultures, serological tests, and examination of the materials obtained from cardiac valves, respectively, in 348 (81.5%), 34 (8%), and 15 (3.5%) definite cases of IE. Concomitant infection with streptococci and C. burnetii was seen in two cases. The results of serological and rheumatoid factor evaluation reclassified 38 (8.9%) possible cases of IE as definite cases. Systematic serological testing improved the performance of the modified Duke criteria and was instrumental in establishing the etiologic diagnosis in 8% (34/427) cases of IE.

Are the Duke criteria really useful for the early bedside diagnosis of infective endocarditis? Results of a prospective multicenter trial.

BACKGROUND: To date, no studies have evaluated the usefulness of the Duke vs the modified Duke criteria for the early diagnosis of infective endocarditis (IE), nor is it known whether a probabilistic approach may be useful in establishing an early clinical diagnosis of IE. The aim of this study was (1) to assess and compare the clinical usefulness of the Duke vs the modified Duke criteria for the early diagnosis of IE, and (2) to evaluate the diagnostic utility of a probabilistic approach based on the echocardiographic criterion. METHODS: From January 2000 to December 2001, 267 consecutive patients with suspected IE were enrolled in a prospective multicenter trial. RESULTS: IE was diagnosed in 147 cases (55%) and rejected in 120 cases (45%). The Duke and the modified Duke criteria had a high similar sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. The time to diagnosis was 8.15 +/- 7.4 days for the Duke criteria and 8.18 +/- 7.1 days for the modified Duke criteria. The time to diagnosis based on a probabilistic approach was shorter than that based on the Duke and the modified Duke criteria (4.96 +/- 7.1 days, for all p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Although the Duke and the modified Duke criteria have a very similar sensitivity, specificity and accuracy, the delay in the time to diagnosis may be significant. A probabilistic approach based on clinical suspicion and echocardiographic evidence may be useful for decision-making, whilst awaiting case definition by means of the Duke criteria.

[Surgical treatment of active infective endocarditis: analysis of 20 years' experience].

OBJECTIVES: Changes in perioperative condition and outcomes of surgically treated patients with active infective endocarditis were evaluated during the last 20 years. METHODS: Between 1983 and 2002, 132 patients with active infective endocarditis underwent surgery at Saitama Medical School. Changes in frequency, pathogens, clinical features, surgical results, and perioperative treatment were compared between four periods of 5 years. RESULTS: The percentage of surgery for infective endocarditis remained almost the same among all cardiovascular procedures. Staphylococcal infective endocarditis increased significantly (p < 0.01), and prosthetic valve infective endocarditis and periannular abscess became more common. Surgery tended to be performed in severely ill patients significantly more frequently (p < 0.01). If all patients were included, hospital mortality did not decrease significantly, at 1.7% in stable patients, but 50% in critically ill patients. Intensive care unit stay became relatively longer. Recurrent infection was observed significantly more frequently in critically ill patients and in patients with prosthetic valve infective endocarditis. Patients were referred for surgery following diagnosis and underwent surgery at increasingly more appropriate timing. However, the diagnosis of infective endocarditis took 1.5 months to establish regardless of the patient's condition or the clinical outcome. Moreover, antibiotics were administered orally in around 90% and intravenously in nearly 70% of the patients without microbiological tests, and negative cultures remained very frequent. CONCLUSIONS: Critically ill patients underwent surgery increasingly more frequently, and surgical outcomes remained unsatisfactory over the last 20 years. Early diagnosis and avoidance of premature antibiotic therapy may be important for future improvement.

Definición, clasificación, aspectos históricos, epidemiología y factores de riesgo / Definition, classification, historical aspects, epidemiology and risk factors

El perfil clínico y epidemiológico de la EI ha variado en las últimas décadas en forma importante, lo que debe considerarse al momento de tomar decisiones en relación al diagnóstico, tratamiento y, posiblemente, en la profilaxis. De ser una afección predominante en pacientes con alteraciones anatómicas valvulares, principalmente secuelas de enfermedad reumática y bacteremias por gérmenes clásicamente extrahospitalarios (60-80 por ciento de los gérmenes aislados correspondían a especies de estreptococos), sus características epidemiológicas han variado sustancialmente en los últimos 20 años. El envejecimiento poblacional, el mayor uso de métodos diagnósticos y terapéuticos de tipo invasivo, la mayor difusión de implantes de dispositivos intracardíacos y las mayores tasas de bacteremias nosocomiales, son algunas de las razones que explican que actualmente la EI se presente en pacientes sin valvulopatías o con una etiología diferente a la reumática y que el germen más frecuentemente aislado en las series comunicadas en el último tiempo sea el estafilococo aureus, incluido el estudio prospectivo nacional ya mencionado.

Consideraciones clínico-epidemiológicas en relación a la etiología de las endocarditis infecciosas / Clinic-epidemiologycal considerations related with the infectious endocarditis etiology

La endocarditis infecciosa (EI) persiste como patología frecuente y trascendente. Ha cambiado en relación a la endocarditis subaguda tradicional de antaño: otros tipos de huéspedes, otros factores de riesgo y patologías subyacentes y modificaciones en la distribución etiológica y resistencia de sus agentes causales. Siguen predominando largamente los agentes bacterianos clásicos, aunque se están reconociendo agentes atípicos dados los progresos del diagnóstico microbiológico, serológico y molecular. Desde un punto de vista práctico es útil diferenciar 4 tipos de endocarditis, con distintas manifestaciones, criterios diagnósticos comunes y, en particular, diferente distribución etiológica, que ayuda a buscar con dedicación preferencial los agentes más característicos o, en caso de fallar en el diagnóstico etiológico orientar y dirigir la terapia empírica. Se distingue la clásica EI de paciente valvulópata previo de adquisición extrahospitalaria en donde predomina Streptococcus spp largamente seguido de S aureus y Enterococcus sp. Está luego la EI del paciente con drogadicción endovenosa, excepcional en Chile, cuya etiología mayoritaria es S aureus y en menos grado bacilos Gram negativos (BGN) y menos aún hongos. EI en valvula protésica con etiología variable de acuerdo al momento de ocurrencia, primando S aureus, S coagulasa negativo (SCN), BGN y hongo en la fase precoz, y una distribución más clásica en los casos tardíos sin nunca perder importancia S aureus y SCN. Finalmente están las EI nosocomiales de pacientes con múltiples patologías de base, no siempre cardíacas que hacen EI como consecuencia de bacteremias nosocomiales cuya etiología representa la distribución de éstas, pero predominando S aureus, SCN y BGN.

[S2 guideline for infectious endocarditis]. / S2 Leitlinie zur Diagnostik und Therapie der infektiösen Endokarditis. Finale Version 5.0 08/2004.

Microbe-induced (infectious) endocarditis is an endovascular infection, caused mainly by bacteria, of cardiovascular structures. The major predilection site are the native heart valves, but involvement of implanted intracardiac foreign material is increasingly being seen. The mortality rate of infectious endocarditis depends on clinical factors and the causal agent, but also on the time of the establishment of the diagnosis and the initiation of appropriate treatment. In Germany, the current mortality rate ranges up to 18%. Between January 2003 and July 2004, with the aim of improving patient care and thus the outcome of this condition, a guideline commission worked out recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment and management of the disease for the use of general practitioners and hospital physicians, in particular microbiologists, infectiologists, cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. The basis for this guideline was the systematic search through the literature of the European guideline. On the 16th and 28th of June 2004, the entire guideline was formerly approved in a nominal group process.