Propionibacterium endocarditis: a case series from the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database and Prospective Cohort Study.

Propionibacterium species are occasionally associated with serious systemic infections such as infective endocarditis. In this study, we examined the clinical features, complications and outcome of 15 patients with Propionibacterium endocarditis using the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database (ICE-MD) and Prospective Cohort Study (ICE-PCS), and compared the results to 28 cases previously reported in the literature. In the ICE database, 11 of 15 patients were male with a mean age of 52 y.

Osteoarticular infections complicating infective endocarditis: a study of 30 cases between 1969 and 2002 in a tertiary referral centre.

Osteoarticular infections (osteomyelitis and septic arthritis) were studied in 693 episodes of infective endocarditis (IE) presenting to St. Thomas' Hospital (STH) between 1969 and 2002. The incidence of osteoarticular infections (OAI) was 4.

Use of surgery in patients with native valve infective endocarditis: results from the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database.

Background: Early surgery has been shown to be beneficial for patients with infective endocarditis (IE), yet surgery is not used in most patients. Evidence of the uncertainty around the use of surgery can be found in the wide variations in the use of cardiac surgery in IE with few precise indications for cardiac surgery yet defined. The aim of the study was to characterize patients with native valve IE relative to surgery and to determine if patients who benefit from an early surgical intervention can be identified.

Clinical characteristics and outcome of aortic endocarditis with periannular abscess in the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database.

The aims of this study were to determine the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients who had definite infective endocarditis (IE) complicated by aortic ring abscess formation that was detected with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and to determine the prognostic significance of abscess formation in aortic valve IE. Patients who had aortic valve IE were selected from the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database (ICE-MD) if they underwent TEE. Among 311 patients who had definite aortic valve IE, 67 (22%) had periannular abscesses.

Staphylococcus aureus native valve infective endocarditis: report of 566 episodes from the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database.

Background: Staphylococcus aureus native valve infective endocarditis (SA-NVIE) is not completely understood. The objective of this investigation was to describe the characteristics of a large, international cohort of patients with SA-NVIE.

Methods: The International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database (ICE-MD) is a combination of 7 existing electronic databases from 5 countries that contains data on 2212 cases of definite infective endocarditis (IE).

Native valve endocarditis due to coagulase-negative staphylococci: report of 99 episodes from the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database.

Using a large cohort of patients from the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Merged Database, we compared coagulase-negative staphylococcal (CoNS) native-valve endocarditis (NVE) to NVE caused by more common pathogens. Rates of heart failure and mortality were similar between patients with CoNS NVE and patients with Staphylococcus aureus NVE, but rates for both groups were significantly higher than rates for patients with NVE due to viridans streptococci. These results emphasize the importance of CoNS as a cause of NVE and the potential for serious complications with this infection.

Candida endocarditis: contemporary cases from the International Collaboration of Infectious Endocarditis Merged Database (ICE-mD).

Candida infective endocarditis (IE) is increasingly common, yet most reports have been single-center reviews. We evaluated 16 patients with Candida IE nested within a cohort of 2,022 patients with IE. Prosthetic valve IE was more common in patients with Candida (50% vs 17%); mortality was 37% for patients with Candida.

Endogenous bacterial endophthalmitis: a 17-year prospective series and review of 267 reported cases.

Endogenous bacterial endophthalmitis is a rare but serious condition that occurs when bacteria cross the blood-ocular barrier and multiply within the eye. We provide an overview of endogenous bacterial endophthalmitis by reviewing 267 reported cases and integrating this with our experience of an additional 19 cases. The majority of patients with endogenous bacterial endophthalmitis are initially misdiagnosed and many have an underlying disease known to predispose to infection.

Infective endocarditis in dialysis patients: new challenges and old.

Background: Since the 1960s chronic hemodialysis (HD) has been recognized as a risk factor for the development of infective endocarditis (IE). Historically, it has been particularly associated with vascular access via dual lumen catheters. We wished to examine the risk factors for, and consequences of, IE in the modern dialysis era.

Outcome and treatment of Bartonella endocarditis.

Background: Endocarditis caused by Bartonella species is a potentially lethal infection characterized by a subacute evolution and severe valvular lesions.

Objectives: To evaluate the outcome of patients with Bartonella endocarditis and to define the best antibiotic regimen using the following measures: recovery, relapse, or death.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study on 101 patients who were diagnosed in our laboratory as having Bartonella endocarditis between January 1, 1995, and April 30, 2001.

Risk factors and a clinical index for diagnosis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia.

OBJECTIVE: To define risk factors significantly and independently associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia and to combine them in a diagnostic index which will define groups of septic patients at low or high risk of bloodstream infection caused by P. aeruginosa. METHODS: Logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with pseudomonal bacteremia among all patients with bacteremia at St Thomas' Hospital, London, from 1969 to 1989.