Korean J Med.  2003 Dec;65(6):698-701.

A case of native valve endocarditis caused by Aspergillus fumigatus

• Suh JW
• Kim JH
• Park WB
• Shin JI
• Kim DH
• Yoon CW
• Kim YJ

Abstract

Fungal endocarditis is a rare but poor-prognostic disease. It typically occurs in patients with several predisposing factors such as open heart surgery, long term venous catheterization, antibiotic therapy, intravenous drug abuse, hematologic malignancy and AIDS. We report a case of native endocarditis caused by Aspergillus fumigatus, which has not been reported as a causative organism of native valve endocarditis in Korea. A 47 year-old female patients without significant past medical history except pulmonary tuberculosis was admitted because of headache and neck pain. After admission, she developed high feve, new cardiac murmur and signs of multiple systemic embolization. Echocardiography revealed large mobile vegetations. Emergent mitral valve replacement was performed and Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from the resected vegetation. Despite postoperative amphotericin B therapy, she died of subarachnoidal hemorrhage.

Keyword

Aspergillus; Endocarditis; Mitral valves; Case report

MeSH Terms

Amphotericin B
Aspergillus fumigatus*
Aspergillus*
Catheterization
Catheters
Causality
Echocardiography
Endocarditis*
Female
Headache
Heart Murmurs
Hematologic Neoplasms
Hemorrhage
Humans
Korea
Middle Aged
Mitral Valve
Neck Pain
Substance Abuse, Intravenous
Thoracic Surgery
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary
Amphotericin B