title: Spectrum of right-sided infective endocarditis: an Indian experience.
abstract: We studied retrospectively 23 consecutive patients seen at our centre with right heart endocarditis. None of the patients had a history of intravenous drug abuse. All patients were found to have underlying congenital heart disease as a predisposing factor, of which ventricular septal defect (26%) and Fallot's tetralogy (26%) were the commonest. Postoperative endocarditis (26%) also constituted an important clinical subset. Fever (100%) and predominant pulmonary symptoms (69.5%) were the important presenting features. Congestive heart failure was present in 15 patients (65.2%) and predicted an adverse in-hospital outcome. Both the pulmonary and the tricuspid valves were affected equally with presence of vegetations at multiple sites in 10 patients (43.4%). Seven patients (30%) also had concomitant left-sided endocarditis. Medical therapy alone was successful in 15 patients (68.1%) with an overall in-hospital mortality of 31.8%. Five of 6 patients with postoperative endocarditis died, signifying an ominous prognosis of this subgroup when treated medically. The clinical spectrum of right-sided endocarditis in our country differs from the West. The frequent presence of underlying congenital heart disease, the rarity of drug abuse as a predisposing factor, equal involvement of the tricuspid and pulmonary valves and a greater incidence of congestive heart failure are some of these differences.
authors.affiliation: Cardiothoracic Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Bahl
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Vasan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shrivastava
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology