Blood Culture-negative Endocarditis Caused by : Whipple's endocarditis.

Case Description: A 67-year-old man was admitted with progressive heart failure due to blood culture-negative endocarditis of the aortic valve. Urgent aortic valve replacement was needed. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of samples of the explanted aortic valve revealed .

The effect of stopping phenprocoumon 5 days preoperatively: A retrospective study.

Background: Clinicians lack substantiated guidance on when vitamin K antagonist (VKA) treatment should be interrupted preoperatively, especially with regard to phenprocoumon, with its long half-life of 5.5 days.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of discontinuing phenprocoumon 5 days preoperatively and determine whether a safe international normalized ratio (INR) was reached.