[Tricuspid valve endocarditis. Demonstration of a rare disease exemplified with 3 case reports].
BACKGROUND
Endocarditis of the tricuspid valve is a rare form of valvular endocarditis and occurs mainly in patients with special risk factors.


METHODS
The three case reports demonstrate 3 young patients (age 30 to 37 years, 2 female and 1 male) with a typical history of those risk factors. The two women were intravenous drug addicts and one of them had suffered already an episode of tricuspid valve endocarditis several years ago. The man developed his infection after implantation of a pacemaker. In all of the three patients the endocarditis was due to infection with staphylococci twice staphylococcus epidermidis and once staphylococcus aureus. In two of the three patients the endocarditis could not be cured by intravenous antibiotics alone and these patients had to undergo cardiac valvular surgery. All patients left the hospital after several weeks without signs of infection.


CONCLUSIONS
In clinical praxis the introduction of a special endocarditis service, a small team which has to be consulted in every suspected case of endocarditis, seems to be beneficial as well as the use of the Duke criteria for diagnosis in those cases.
Zahn
R
R
Herzzentrum Ludwigshafen.
Schneider
M
M
Thoma
S
S
Zander
M
M
Lotter
R
R
Seidl
K
K
Isgro
F
F
Saggau
W
W
Senges
J
J
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000150:complications; D000328:Adult; D004452:Echocardiography; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects; D012307:Risk Factors; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology
Trikuspidalklappenendokarditis. Darstellung eines seltenen Krankheitsbildes anhand dreier Fallberichte.