Introduction:

infective endocarditis is a disease characterized by infection of the endocardial surface of the heart, especially the valves. Given the change in causal microorganisms, a characterization of this disease is essential in order to obtain our own results.

Objective:

to describe the clinical, microbiological and echocardiographic characteristics, mortality and treatment guidelines of patients with infective endocarditis.

Methods:

a case series was performed at a quaternary care hospital in Bogotá. The medical records from 2013-2017 of patients with an ICD-10 diagnosis of endocarditis and who were in the cardiology imaging laboratory's database were reviewed. Descriptive statistics were used to report the findings, along with a multiple correspondence analysis to explore the relationship between the type of microorganism and the other variables.

Results:

data from 34 patients were reviewed. These patients had an average age of 59 years (standard deviation 15.3) and were predominantly males. Native valves were more frequently involved (85.2%), especially the mitral valve (55.8%). The most common clinical finding was fever (64.7%), and vegetations were seen on echocardiogram in 91.2%. The microbiological isolates were predominantly Staphylococcus aureus (32.3%); treatment with antibiotic alone was prescribed for 70.7%, the remaining 29.3% were managed surgically, and there was an 8.8% documented mortality.

Discussion and conclusions:

the characteristics of this series are similar to those of other series. Staphylococcus aureus is the main causal germ. The low mortality found may be explained by the lower frequency of serious complications requiring surgical management. (Acta Med Colomb 2019; 44. DOI:https://doi.org/10.36104/amc.2019.1223).

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