Bacterial endocarditis in a transplanted heart.
A 51-year-old man presented with an abscess in his sternotomy scar 33 months after orthotopic heart transplantation. After surgical drainage he developed a febrile illness which led to renal and pulmonary failure. Twenty-three days after the illness began, blood cultures grew Staphylococcus aureus and he died 11 days later. Post-mortem examination revealed acute bacterial endocarditis with dense colonies of gram-positive cocci on the mitral valve leaflets and microabscesses in the myocardium of the transplanted heart.
Khoo
D E
DE
Heart Transplant Research Unit, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, U.K.
Zebro
T J
TJ
English
T A
TA
D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000473:pathology*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged