Infective Endocarditis – An Observational Study

Abstract Introduction: Despite all the progresses made in the management of infectious and cardiovascular diseases, the incidence of infective endocarditis remains high. Aim: the assessment of etiological, clinical, therapeutic aspects in patients with endocarditis. Material and method: A retrospective observational study in 40 patients with infective endocarditis was conducted, over a period of 5 years. Parameters related to demographic, risk factors, clinical aspects, nature and location of valve damage, bacteriological and therapeutic parameters were assessed. Echocardiography was used to confirm the location of the endocarditis; the aetiology of the disease was identified through the isolation of bacteria from blood cultures by using an automatic BacT/ALERT® system. Results: Patients’ age ranged between 31 - 84 years old. The disease was present predominantly in male patients (67.5%). 70% of the patients were positively diagnosed with endocarditis and 30% with possible endocarditis; the most frequent localization was the native valves in 75% of the cases, compared to the localization in the prosthetic valves, 25%; the aortic valve was involved in 60% of the cases, mitral valve in 40% of the patients. Aetiology of endocarditis was confirmed in 55% of cases as follows: Enterococcus fecalis, speciae, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus gallolyticus, coagulase-positive methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, coagulasepositive methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus lungdunensis, coagulase-negative staphylococci, Streptococcus gordonii, viridans, agalactiae. Antibiotic treatment was administered according to the antibiogram in 55% of the cases. Conclusions: Staphylococcus speciae was the most frequent etiologic agent both in case of native and prosthetic valve endocarditis, with aortic valve predominance.