超声心动图诊断感染性心内膜炎的意义

目的　探讨感染性心内膜炎 (IE)患者的超声心动图的特征性改变及诊断意义。方法　 17例IE患者进行了经胸超声心动图检查 ,探测赘生物的位置 ,大小 ,活动度及瓣膜功能。结果　男 11例 ,女 6例。平均年龄 3 4岁 (年龄范围 2～76岁 )。超声心动图检查发现 16例自身瓣膜和 1例人工瓣膜有赘生物形成 ,其中 7个二尖瓣 ,9个主动脉瓣和 1个三尖瓣上有赘生物。平均赘生物大小 0 .8cm (范围 0 .3～ 1.6cm)。血培养葡萄球菌 4例 ,链球菌 4例 ,类酵母菌 1例 ,血培养阳性率 5 3 %。住院期间 4例死亡 (2 3 % ) ,11例充血性心衰 (64 % ) ,6例体循环栓塞 (3 5 % ) ,4例接受了瓣膜置换术 (2 3 % )。结论　超声心动图检测IE声像图观察比较直观 ,尤其在血培养阴性的IE患者尤为有用。超声心动图能探测到瓣膜的赘生物 ,提示严重心衰 ,对于需要早期外科手术的IE患者提供重要依据     

The results of conservative therapy and the analysis of survival rate in drug addicted patients with infectious endocarditis

110 drug addicted patients with infectious endocarditis (IE), 67 males and 43 females with average age 24 +/- 3.2 years were examined. Positive results of conservative therapy were in 69.2% patients with isolated lesion of tricuspid valve. Hospital lethality in the group of patients was 35.5% (39 cases). The analysis of survival rate of IE patients with the use of Cox's regression model made possible to establish that main predictors of lethal outcome in the group of patients were dimensions of microbe vegetations on tricuspid valve more than 2 cm, development of acute left ventricle failure, DIC-syndrome, and high degree tricuspid valve failure. Presence of HIV in early stage and C hepatitis without clinical laboratory activity did not have significant influence on IE outcome in this group of patients.     

Approaches to late prognosis in patients with subacute infectious endocarditis

AIM: To ascertain late prognosis of subacute infectious endocarditis (IE), factors involved in the prognosis, formulate approaches to assessment of late prognosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective trial included 98 patients discharged from a hospital with diagnosis "subacute IE", treated without surgery or without endocarditis of the prosthesis. The diagnosis was verified at echocardiography. A mean follow-up 4.8 +/- 3.7 years. Clinical and echo-CG follow-up findings were computer-processed. RESULTS: 5-year lethality was 31%. The patients died of cardiac failure (CF) and acute failure of cerebral circulation (84 and 16%, respectively). Late complications in the survivors were the following: severe CF (18 patients, 32%), moderate CF (18 patients, 32%), recurrent IE (12 patients, 20%). Such factors as IE variant (primary or secondary), affection of the aortic valve, severity of regurgitation, size of the left ventricle, CF progression in the acute phase proved to have a significant influence on late prognosis. CONCLUSION: The prevalent cause of death in IE is CF. The progression of CF depends on combination of the above factors. High risk group patients should be examined by a cardio-surgeon even in the absence of clinical symptoms of CF.     

系统性红斑狼疮诱发的非感染性心内膜炎心脏瓣膜病变的超声及临床特点分析

目的对比分析超声心动图对非感染性心内膜炎（NIE）与不典型感染性心内膜炎（IE）的诊断价值,提高对NIE尤其是系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）诱发的NIE心脏瓣膜病变的超声及临床特点认识。 方法收集2005年7月至2015年1月首都医科大学附属北京朝阳医院收治的经临床确诊的NIE患者38例,其中SLE患者10例,风湿性心脏病10例,类风湿心脏病患者11例,乙肝相关患者7例;同时以该院同期收治的经临床确诊的不典型IE患者42例作为对照。采用χ²检验比较两组患者血培养、心电图、血清免疫学、超声心动图检查结果的差异。 结果两组患者血培养、血清免疫学、心电图检查结果差异均有统计学意义（χ²值分别为26.29、5.53、4.80,P值均<0.05）,但超声心动图检查结果差异无统计学意义（χ²=0.03,P>0.05）。38例NIE患者中,27例患者超声心动图检出赘生物,检出率为71.1%;11例患者超声心动图呈瓣叶增厚;赘生物直径为2~7 mm。42例不典型IE患者中,36例患者超声检出赘生物,检出率为85.7%（36/42）;6例患者超声心动图呈瓣叶增厚;赘生物直径为2~19 mm,其中左心赘生物28例,右心赘生物8例。病例组中2例SLE患者经胸超声心动图检查结果为阴性,经食管超声心动图显示阳性结果确诊;9例合并轻度以上瓣膜反流;10例SLE瓣膜病变者经临床采用激素联合环磷酰胺治疗后狼疮病情稳定;患者最短于治疗后5 d、最长3年超声心动图复查,增厚的瓣膜较前明显缩小至消失。 结论超声心动图可以早期快速发现SLE诱发的NIE瓣膜受累时特征性的非感染性血栓性疣状赘生物。超声心动图可为不典型IE及NIE的后续治疗及疗效观察提供有价值的参考。     

Use of transesophageal echocardiography for improving detection of valvular vegetations in subacute bacterial endocarditis

Subacute bacterial endocarditis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Valvular destruction, congestive heart failure, embolic phenomena, failure of medical therapy, and death are all more common in patients with echocardiographically discernible valvular lesions. Transthoracic echocardiography is often unsatisfactory for evaluation of vegetations in patients with chest wall deformities, lung disease, obesity, or prosthetic valves. The transesophageal approach affords uniformly high-quality images with excellent structural resolution. We present a case of suspected subacute bacterial endocarditis in a patient with equivocal diagnoses of vegetations on three separate transthoracic echocardiograms in whom transesophageal evaluation revealed obvious large vegetations that involved the aortic and mitral valves. Subsequent autopsy confirmed this diagnosis. The case illustrates the utility of a new imaging method for the detection of valvular vegetations. In view of the prognostic implications of detected vegetations, transesophageal echocardiography probably should be performed on all patients with suspected subacute bacterial endocarditis and equivocal results by transthoracic study.     

经胸与经食管超声心动图对感染性心内膜炎的诊断价值比较

  目的  比较经胸超声心动图(transthoracic echocardiography, TTE)和经食管超声心动图(transesophageal echocardiography, TEE)诊断感染性心内膜炎(infective endocarditis, IE)的准确性。  方法  回顾性分析2003年1月至2011年12月北京协和医院诊断的95例IE患者的临床及超声心动图特点, 比较TTE和TEE对赘生物和IE相关并发症的检出率, 并以TEE作为诊断IE的标准来评价TTE诊断的准确性。  结果  TEE对赘生物的阳性检出率显著高于TTE(81.1%比52.6%, P < 0.001);若以TEE阳性作为诊断IE的标准, 则TTE检出赘生物的敏感性为64.9%, 特异性为94.4%;TEE对IE瓣周并发症诊断的敏感性也显著高于TTE(P < 0.05)。  结论  TTE对赘生物检出的阳性率较低; TEE不仅在检出赘生物方面较TTE更敏感, 对IE瓣周并发症诊断的敏感性也更高。     

Infective endocarditis in patients receiving long-term hemodialysis

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the predominant characteristics of patients receiving long-term dialysis who develop infective endocarditis (IE). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed the records of all chronic hemodialysis patients who had IE at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn, between 1983 and 1997. RESULTS: Twenty episodes of IE occurred in 17 patients. One patient had 3 episodes of IE, and 1 patient had 2 episodes of IE; each episode was caused by a different organism. The mean +/- SD age of our patients was 63 +/- 11 years; there were 13 males; 6 patients had diabetes mellitus; and the mean +/- SD duration of hemodialysis prior to IE was 24.2 +/- 20.5 months. This analysis included 10 episodes of IE (occurring in 9 patients) within the Mayo Clinic Dialysis System during which time 223,358 hemodialysis treatments were delivered, giving a rate of 10 IE episode per 223,336 hemodialysis treatments. Among all 20 IE episodes, there were 14 synthetic arteriovenous grafts, 4 permanent venous dialysis catheters, 2 temporary venous dialysis catheters, and 2 native arteriovenous fistulas (2 accesses in 2 patients), and access had been in place for a mean +/- SD of 15.9 +/- 18.6 months. The portal of infection was the hemodialysis access in 13 episodes of IE. The causative organisms for IE were Staphylococcus aureus in 8 cases, Enterococcus sp in 4 cases, viridans streptococcus in 3 cases, Staphylococcus epidermidis in 2 cases, and 1 case each of Streptococcus bovis, group G beta-hemolytic streptococcus, and Aspergillus sp. The mitral valve was involved in 9 cases, the aortic valve was involved in 5 cases, and the tricuspid and pulmonic valves were involved in 1 case each. Patient survival (after the first episode of IE) was 71% at 30 days; 53% at 60 days; and 35% at 1 year. Echocardiography was performed in 19 episodes of IE. The transthoracic echocardiogram was 62.5% sensitive and 40% specific for the presence of definite or probable vegetations. Univariate analysis for factors affecting 60-day survival show that presence of right-sided IE, vegetation size greater than 2.0 cm3, diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, and initial leukocyte count greater than 12.5 x 10(9)/L were poor prognostic factors. Aortic valve involvement carried a better prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: Infective endocarditis in hemodialysis patients is relatively infrequent but has a high mortality. Patients with synthetic intravascular dialysis angioaccess (synthetic grafts and venous catheters) are more likely to develop IE than patients with native arteriovenous fistulas. Transesophageal echocardiography is a preferred echocardiographic study for suspected cases of IE. Prolonged antibiotic therapy is needed for all patients, and close monitoring is needed for patients with right-sided IE, large vegetations, diabetes mellitus, and an elevated leukocyte count.     

Glucocorticosteroids in bacterial endocarditis: is it beneficial or harmful?

AIM: Analysis of results of treatment of infectious endocarditis (IE) with glucocorticosteroids in combination with antibiotics. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 128 IE patients received antibiotics (control group). Glucocorticosteroids were added to antibiotics in 44 IE patients (study group). RESULTS: Valvular replacement, congestive heart insufficiency, thromboembolic complications, suppression of cellular and humoral immunity occurred more frequently in patients of the study group. CONCLUSION: It was found that glucocorticosteroids affect IE negatively, especially in the dose 30 mg/day and higher. Glucocorticosteroids are indicated in allergic reactions to the antibacterial drugs, severe renal damage (proteinuria < 1 g/l), myocardial defects; contraindicated in non-eradicated IE causative agent, in recurrent IE.     

Infective bicuspid aortic valve endocarditis causing acute severe regurgitation and heart failure: A case report

BACKGROUNDInfective endocarditis (IE) is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening infection, which occasionally develops into acute severe valve insufficiency leading to the onset of heart failure, and necessitates timely intervention. However, the variable and atypical clinical manifestations always make the early detection of IE difficult and challenging.CASE SUMMARYA 45-year-old female who was previously healthy presented with exertional shortness of breath and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. She also suffered from a significant decrease in exercise capacity, whereas her body temperature was normal. She had severe hypoxemia and hypotension along with a marked aortic valve murmur. Diffuse pulmonary edema and bilateral pleural effusion were observed on both chest X-ray and computed tomography scan. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed immediately and revealed severe regurgitation of the bicuspid aortic valve. Transesophageal echocardiography was further performed and vegetations were detected. In addition to adequate medical therapy and ventilation support, the patient underwent urgent and successful aortic valve replacement. Her symptoms were significantly relieved and the postoperative chest X-ray showed that pulmonary edema was significantly reduced. Histopathology of the resected valve and positive microorganism culture of the surgical specimen provided evidence of definite IE.CONCLUSIONIE should be considered in critical patients with refractory heart failure caused by severe bicuspid aortic valve regurgitation.     

Mortality in patients with paravalvular abscess diagnosed by transesophageal echocardiography.

BACKGROUND: Paravalvular abscess is a complication of endocarditis that may lead to persistent infection, conduction abnormalities, fistula formation, worsening congestive heart failure, and death. METHODS: Between 1991 and 2001, paravalvular abscess was identified on transesophageal echocardiography in 24 patients who subsequently underwent surgical treatment. Echocardiographic findings were reviewed for location of abscess, presence of a valvular prosthesis, valvular function, and presence of vegetations. Information gathered included the time interval between transesophageal echocardiography diagnosis and operation, inhospital mortality, and microbiologic data. RESULTS: Of 24 patients, 9 died, for a mortality of 38%. Of the patients who died, the average survival after operation was 43 days, with a range of 1 to 238 days. Of the 14 patients with significant valvular or paravalvular regurgitation, 8 died (57%). However, of the 10 patients with mild or no regurgitation, only 1 died (10%). This difference was statistically significant (P =.02). CONCLUSION: Patients without preserved valve function (those with moderate or severe regurgitation) have a significantly worse outcome (57% mortality) than do those with normal valvular function (10% mortality).     

Infectious endocarditis in intravenous drug abusers

Clinical course of infectious endocarditis (IE) was analysed for 43 intravenous drug abusers. 42 of them had primary IE, one patient--secondary. Acute course and high activity of the disease were registered in 86% of the patients. IE was provoked by Staphylococcus aureus (50%), Staphylococcus epidermidis 920%), Staphylococcus haemolyticus (11%), E. coli (8%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2%), Candida albicans (2%), mixed microflora (7%). Vegetations were detected on the tricuspid, mitral and aortic valves (52, 23 and 19%, respectively), on more than one valve (6%). Pneumonia, pleuricy, hydrothorax, enlargement of the liver, spleen, nephritis and anemia were found in 76, 44, 9, 100, 75, 70 and 88% of the patients, respectively. Cardiac failure aggravated the disease in half of the patients, lethality was 18%. Thus, IE in intravenous drug abusers is characterized by a primary form, acute active course, prevalent damage to the tricuspid valve, polyorganic involvement, high lethality. IE cure in such patients is feasible only in adequate antibacterial therapy, timely surgical correction and giving up drug abuse.     

Infective endocarditis in patients on program hemodyalisis

Ten (1.8%) out of 558 patients with end-stage chronic renal failure on program hemodialysis developed infective endocarditis (IE). The average length of hemodialysis before IE was 17.0 +/- 14.5 months. The main cause of IE was infection of the site of vascular approaches. The diagnosis was difficult; Duke criteria modified by J. Li et al. (2000) allowed evidenced diagnosis of IE only in 30% of cases, while modified criteria offered by the authors did it in 50% of cases. The article discusses rational antibacterial therapy. Hospital lethality in IE is as high as 50%.     

238例慢性肾功能衰竭患者心脏损害的超声心动图表现

回顾分析238例慢性肾功能衰竭患者的超声心动图资料,发现心包积液94例(39.5%),多为少至中等量积液。心脏各腔室异常改变210例(88.2%),受损多为左房、左室扩大,室间隔和左室后壁增厚。办膜返流142例(59.6%),以轻、中度返流为主,主要为二尖瓣、三尖瓣,其次为主动脉瓣返流。左室功能测定结果为舒张功能显著隆低。同时分析了X线和心电图检查,结果发现超声心动图诊断慢性肾功能衰竭心脏损害方面远比X线、心电图检查敏感。     

Survival of patients with infectious endocarditis in various treatment methods

The aim of the study was to compare survival of patients with infectious endocarditis (IE) by abuse of intravenous narcotic substances in conservative and combined treatment in acute IE phase. A total of 195 IE patients were examined. 121 of them was treated conservatively, 74 patients received a combined treatment including surgical one. A long-term prognosis was studied by the Kaplan-Meier method. Among drug addicts with IE, the number of survivors in the observation period in early operation in the active IE phase was significantly higher than in the conservative therapy. Long-term survival of drug addicts with IE in combined treatment was also higher: 1-2- and 3-year survival was 85.8, 76.3 and 61.0% against 64.8, 49.0 and 34.2% in conservative treatment, respectively. In non-addicts the differences were weaker: long-term survival in combined treatment was higher than in conservative one only in 5-year survival (74.1 and 41.6%, respectively).     

Transesophageal echocardiography in diagnosis of infectious endocarditis]

Transthoracic and transesophagal echocardiography (TT EChG and TE EChG) were performed in 43 patients with infectious endocarditis (IE). Sensitivity and specificity of TE EChG in detection of vegetations were higher (92 and 75%, 81 and 50% for TE EChG and TT EChG, respectively). Vegetations and thromboembolism were unrelated. With TE EChG, morphologically verified perforations of valvular cusps were revealed 3 times more frequently than with TT EChG. Along with detection of vegetations and dysfunction of the prosthetic valve, an essential diagnostic marker of IE of the artificial valve is visualization of paraprosthetic fistulas in 2 of 5 patients. Indications for TT and TE EChG and techniques of their performance are described. TT EChG is used in screening for IE. TE EChG is conducted in complications of IE.     

Predictive value of echocardiography in infectious endocarditis

182 patients with infectious endocarditis (IE) were examined for correlations between valvular bacterial vegetations and IE activity, course, results of bacteriological and morphological findings. 81 of the patients had primary IE, 71 patients had secondary IE which had developed in uncorrected valvular heart disease, in 30 patients secondary IE had developed after surgical correction of rheumatic heart disease. It is shown that echocardiographic detection of bacterial vegetations does not determine IE severity, course and outcome.     

超声心动图诊断先天性心脏病合并感染性心内膜炎的价值

目的 探讨超声心动图在先天性心脏病(CHD)合并感染性心内膜炎(IE)中的诊断价值.方法 分析16例CHD合并IE患者的超声心动图特点并与手术结果对照.结果 超声心动图显示赘生物10例,最小0.5 cm,最大2.0 cm;其附着部位及大小与手术结果相符.超声诊断IE阳性率达62%(10/16).赘生物超声漏诊6例,其中5例小于0.4 cm.血培养阳性8例,阳性率50%(8/16).结论 超声心动图诊断心内原发畸形准确率高,对0.4 cm以上的心内赘生物有较高的诊断敏感性及准确性;对瓣膜穿孔、关闭不全等IE并发症可作出准确判断,是CHD合并IE的主要诊断依据.     

活动期感染性心内膜炎手术时机的分析

目的 探讨活动期感染性心内膜炎(infectiue endocarditis,IE)患者心脏手术的最佳时期.方法 回顾分析1999年9月-2009年9月行外科治疗的92例IE患者的临床资料.IE诊断标准为修订的Duke标准.采用SPSS 12.0软件包,分析了年龄、性别、是否是院内感染IE、合并症(糖尿病、慢性阻塞性肿...     

Spontaneous echo contrast imaging in infective endocarditis: a predictor of complications?

Infective endocarditis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Valvular destruction and congestive heart failure are more common in patients with echocardiographically detectable vegetations. In addition, spontaneous platelet aggregation is increased when vegetations are present on cardiac valves. The aim of the study was to assess the prognostic value of spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) imaging, as SEC is supposed to reflect red blood cell aggregates stimulated by platelet activity. We studied 293 patients with clinical signs of infective endocarditis. Vegetations, attached to the aortic or mitral valve, were found in 130 patients (44.4%) who were followed for a mean period of 12 months. In 34 of these 130 patients (26.2%) SEC was imaged during the initial transesophageal echocardiographic examination. In these patients SEC indicated a prolonged healing of infective endocarditis with a specificity of 91.2%, a sensitivity of 77.3%, a positive accuracy of 77.3%, a negative accuracy of 74.3%. Multivariate analysis revealed that SEC is a risk factor for valve replacement (p < 0.001) and for embolic events (p < 0.001), less for mortality (p < 0.01), and lowest for abscess formation (p < 0.05). The dose of ADP to induce half-maximal platelet aggregation was significantly lower in patients with SEC (0.71 ± 0.15μl) than without SEC (1.05 ± 0.12μl;p < 0.05), implying an increased spontaneous platelet aggregation in the presence of SEC. Our data provide evidence that systemically activated coagulation plays an important role in infective endocarditis. SEC, the echocardiographic implication of an increased platelet aggregation, predicts complications such as thromboembolic events and the need for surgery and is closely related to the prolonged healing period of infective endocarditis. In addition to demonstrating vegetations, transesophageal echocardiography provides information helpful in assigning patients to a high-risk subgroup. Transesophageal echocardiography may play an important role in assessing the clinical outcome of these patients.     

Echocardiographic detection of aortic valve ring abscesses

Valve ring abscess complication of infective endocarditis increases the expected morbidity and mortality rates of patients, but is seldom recognized by available noninvasive techniques. In our study, two-dimensional echocardiography successfully detected valve ring abscesses in eight patients with infective endocarditis affecting aortic valve prosthesis. Echocardiography showed the perivalvular abscess as an echo-free space in all patients. Prosthetic vegetations were seen in the only patient who had a biological prosthesis and excessive prosthetic rocking was observed in cases with severe aortic regurgitation. In two patients, the first echocardiographic examination showed an echo-free space without evident clinical signs of endocarditis or significant valve regurgitation. Severe aortic insufficiency and congestive heart failure followed the enlargement of the echo-free space. Valve replacement was required in all but one patient. The echocardiographic findings were confirmed at surgery. In one patient, the extension of the abscess to the interventricular septum was not detected by the echocardiography.