Patient: Male, 23Final Diagnosis: Corynebacterium diphtheriae endocarditisSymptoms: Abdominal pain • cachexia • diarrhea • fever • vomitingMedication: —Clinical Procedure: Mitral valve replacementSpecialty: SurgeryObjective:Rare diseaseBackground:Although Corynebacterium diphtheriae is well known for causing diphtheria and other respiratory tract infections, in very rare cases it can lead to severe systemic disease.Case Report:This is a case of a previously healthy young man (no prosthetic valve in situ or other known congenital defect), presenting with a Corynebacterium diphtheriae infection leading to endocarditis. The patient reported no I.V. drug use, so it can be assumed that no risk factors for infective endocarditis were present.Conclusions:This report aims to raise suspicion for this specific infection in order to proceed with the right treatment as soon as possible.

INTRODUCTIONRight ventricular (RV) rupture with mediastinitis, is a very rare but extremely dangerous (even fatal) complication, following CABG surgery.PRESENTATION OF CASEIn this paper, we present the case of a post-trauma (after fall) RV rupture (without mediastinitis) in a patient who had undergone cardiac surgery several days ago. The cause of the rupture proved to be a broken bone piece from the lower sternal edge.DISCUSSIONRV rupture post-operatively caused by broken bone pieces or bone dislocation may occur through two mechanisms: either penetration of the RV, or through the “sandpaper effect”. In order to prevent the rupture, we should be able to recognize patients with aggravating factors (age, weight) and choose intra-operatively a suitable closure technique.CONCLUSIONWe propose that the technique that could prevent such ruptures is the Robicsek technique.