Objectives
(1) To describe the incidence, clinical characteristics, treatment and outcome of Aspergillus Endocarditis (AE) in a nationwide multicentric cohort (GAMES). (2) To compare the AE cases of the GAMES cohort, with the AE cases reported in the literature since 2010. (3) To identify variables related to mortality.
Methods
We recruited 10 AE cases included in the GAMES cohort (January 2008‐December 2018) and 51 cases from the literature published from January 2010 to July 2019.
Results
4528 patients with infectious endocarditis (IE) were included in the GAMES cohort, of them 10 (0.2%) were AE. After comparing our 10 cases with the 51 of the literature, no differences were found. Analysing the 61 AE cases together, 55.7% were male, median age 45 years. Their main underlying conditions were as follows: prosthetic valve surgery (34.4%) and solid organ transplant (SOT) (19.7%). Mainly affecting mitral (36.1%) and aortic valve (29.5%). Main isolated species were as follows: Aspergillus fumigatus (47.5%) and Aspergillus flavus (24.6%). Embolisms occurred in 54%. Patients were treated with antifungals (90.2%), heart surgery (85.2%) or both (78.7%).
Overall, 52.5% died. A greater mortality was observed in immunosuppressed patients (59.4% vs. 24.1%, OR = 4.09, 95%CI = 1.26–13.19, p = .02), and lower mortality was associated with undergoing cardiac surgery plus azole therapy (28.1% vs. 65.5%, OR = 0.22, 95%CI = 0.07–0.72, p = .01).
Conclusions
AE accounts for 0.2% of all IE episodes of a national multicentric cohort, mainly affecting patients with previous valvular surgery or SOT recipients. Mortality remains high especially in immunosuppressed hosts and azole‐based treatment combined with surgical resection are related to a better outcome.
Cor triatriatumis a rare congenital anomaly characterized by an embriologic defect in which the common pulmonary vein fails to connect to the left posterior atrial wall. As a result, the left atrium is divided by a fibromuscular membrane in 2 chambers, the posterosuperior chamber that receives the drainage of the pulmonary veins, and the anteroinferior chamber that continues with the mitral valve. We report on a 45-year-old woman whose diagnosis was made because of exertional dyspnea and paroxistic atrial fibrillation.Echocardiography showed a characteristic linear echodense structure crossing the left atrium ( Figure 1A). Magnetic resonance and right catheterization confirmed the diagnosis of cor triatriatum ( Figure 1B,C,D). The patient underwent surgical correction.
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