Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Infective Endocardites (ie) Diagnosed in an Internal Medicine Ward

Abstract

Premises and Purpose of the Study: Infective endocarditis (IE) is defined by infection of the endocardial surface of the heart, usually the vallves. Our objective was to describe the clinical characteristics of patients (pts) with IE.

Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective monocentric cohort study of pts hospitalized in our internal medicine ward between June 2024 and December 2024, who fulfilled “ESC 2023 diagnostic criteria” for definitive or possible IE.

Results: 60 pts were admitted in our Internal Medicina ward between June and December 2024 with diagnosed of sepsis. Out of these pts, 9 received diagnosed of definitive and 2 of possible IE. Pts were mainly female with a median age at diagnosis of 64 years. Four patients had a cardiac risk factor, three had a non-cardiac risk, four had both. All pts underwent at least one transthoracic echocardiography and one transesophageal echocardiography. All 11 pts received antibiotics after IE definite or possible diagnosis, either based on available microbiological results or by empiric therapy. 2 pts were indicated for surgery in the presence of severe heart failure.