Skip to main content
Download PDF

Pneumococcal pulmonary valve endocarditis

Echo Research & Practice volume 4, pages K1–K5 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Pulmonary valve endocarditis is a rare type of infective endocarditis (IE). Streptococcus pneumoniae is a pathogen that is uncommonly associated with IE. A 50 year-old male was referred to us after an incidental echocardiographic finding of a pulmonary valve vegetation. The patient had a recent admission for drainage of a scrotal abscess from which S. pneumoniae was isolated, complicated by hospital acquired pneumonia and pulmonary embolism. Analysis using polymerase chain reaction of the surgically resected mass revealed signs of 16S ribosomal DNA consistent with S. pneumoniae infection. This was an extremely rare case of pneumococcal pulmonary valve IE presenting entirely asymptomatically in the absence of any known risk factors.

References

  1. Cox T, Warrell D, Firth J 2003 Oxford Textbook of Medicine, vol 1, p 468. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Habib G, Lancellotti P, Antunes MJ, Bongiorni MG, Casalta JP, Del Zotti F, Dulgheru R, El Khoury G, Erba PA, Iung B et al. 2015 2015 ESC Guidelines for the management of infective endocarditis: the task force for the management of infective endocarditis of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Endorsed by: European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS), the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM). European Heart Journal 36 3075–3128. (doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehv319)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Nandakumar R, Raju G 1997 Isolated tricuspid valve endocarditis in non-addicted patients: a diagnostic challenge. American Journal of Medical Sciences 314 207–212. (doi:10.1016/s0002-9629(15)40196-x)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Aronin SI, Mukherjee SK, West JC, Cooney EL 1998 Review of pneumococcal endocarditis in adults in the penicillin era. Clinical Infectious Diseases 26 165–171. (doi:10.1086/516279)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Cassling RS, Rogler WC, McManus BM 1985 Isolated pulmonic valve infective endocarditis: a diagnostically elusive entity. American Heart Journal 109 558–567. (doi:10.1016/0002-8703(85)90563-0)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Chowdhury MA, Moukarbel GV 2016 Isolated pulmonary valve endocarditis. Cardiology 133 79–82. (doi:10.1159/000440857)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Tekin R, Acet H, Ertas F 2012 An unusual case of endocarditis: isolated pulmonary valve endocarditis in patient with patent ductus arteriosus. Journal of Medical Cases 3 340–343. (doi:10.4021/jmc600w)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Glew T, Feliciano M, Finkielstein D et al. 2015 Pulmonic valve repair in a patient with isolated pulmonic valve endocarditis and sickle cell disease. Case Reports in Cardiology 2015 732073. (doi:10.1155/2015/732073)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Nishanth KR, Seshadri S, Pandit V, Krishnanand N 2013 Isolated pulmonary valve endocarditis in a patient with aplastic anaemia. BMJ Case Reports 2013 bcr2013008769. (doi:10.1136/bcr-2013-008769)

  10. Schroeder RA 2005 Pulmonic valve endocarditis in a normal heart. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography 18 197–198. (doi:10.1016/j.echo.2004.08.006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Frontera JA, Gradon JD 2000 Right-side endocarditis in injection drug users: review of proposed mechanisms of pathogenesis. Clinical Infectious Diseases 30 374–379. (doi:10.1086/313664)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Nishimura RA, Otto CM, Bonow RO, Carabello BA, Erwin JP 3rd, Guyton RA, O’Gara PT, Ruiz CE, Skubas NJ, Sorajja P et al. 2014 2014 AHA/ACC Guideline for the management of patients with valvular heart disease: executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task. Circulation 129 2440–2492. (doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000029)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Thuny F, Di Salvo G, Belliard O, Avierinos JF, Pergola V, Rosenberg V, Casalta JP, Gouvernet J, Derumeaux G, Iarussi D et al. 2005 Risk of embolism and death in infective endocarditis: prognostic value of echocardiography: a prospective multicenter study. Circulation 112 69–75. (doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.104.493155)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Edmond JJ, Eykyn SJ, Smith LD 2001 Community acquired staphylococcal pulmonary valve endocarditis in non-drug users: case report and review of the literature. Heart 86 E17. (doi:10.1136/heart.86.6.e17)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiology, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation TrustWilliam Harvey Hospital, Ashford, UK

    Vrettos Apostolos & Paula Mota

  2. Microbiology, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation TrustWilliam Harvey Hospital, Ashford, UK

    James Nash

  3. Echocardiography, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation TrustWilliam Harvey Hospital, Ashford, UK

    Iain Thorp & Adam Marzetti

  4. Cardiothoracic Surgery, King’s College London School of Medical Education, London, UK

    Max Baghai

Authors
  1. Vrettos Apostolos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paula Mota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James Nash
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Iain Thorp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Max Baghai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Adam Marzetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vrettos Apostolos.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://doi.org/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Apostolos, V., Mota, P., Nash, J. et al. Pneumococcal pulmonary valve endocarditis. Echo Res Pract 4, K1–K5 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-17-0026

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-17-0026

Key Words

Echo Research & Practice

ISSN: 2055-0464

Contact us