Successful Management of Prosthetic Valve Brucella Endocarditis with Antibiotherapy Alone

Re-do pericardial reconstruction of the aortic valve in Brucella endocarditis

We report a 12-year-old boy who had undergone an auto-pericardial aortic valve implantation 3 years ago for rheumatic aortic regurgitation. He presented with Brucella endocarditis of the auto-pericardial leaflets with new-onset severe aortic regurgitation, congestive cardiac failure and systemic sepsis. He had an aortic root abscess with multiple pseudoaneurysms in relation to the aortic sinus. Following medical stabilisation, he underwent re-do surgery with debridement of the root abscess, closure of the pseudoaneurysms, excision of the auto-pericardial aortic leaflets and reconstruction of the aortic valve with donor pericardium. He had an uneventful recovery and is asymptomatic on follow-up.

Brucella Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis: A Systematic Review

Objective

Brucella prosthetic valve endocarditis is a rare but a life-threatening complication of brucellosis. It remains a diagnostic challenge. Optimal treatment of Brucella prosthetic valve endocarditis is debated. Available data is limited to case reports or small case series. The purpose of this study was to systematically review all published cases of Brucella prosthetic valve endocarditis in the literature.

Method

A systematic review of PubMed database, Google, Google Scholar, and Scopus (From January 1974 to the present) for studies providing epidemiological, clinical and microbiological data as well as data on treatment and outcomes of Brucella prosthetic valve endocarditis was performed.

Results

A total of 51 reported cases were reviewed. Brucella melitensis (45%) and Brucella abortus (11.7%) were the most frequently isolated species. Most common type of prosthesis valve was mechanical prothesis (84.3%) and ten patients had double valve prosthesis (19.6%). Fever and dyspnea were present in 100% and 37.2% of the cases, respectively. The diagnosis was set with echocardiographic finding in 30 cases (93.7%), which revealed vegetation in 27 cases (84.3%). Most used antibiotics were rifampicin, doxycycline and aminoglycoside or cotrimoxazole. No deaths were noted in patients treated by combined medical and surgical treatment, but mortality was noted in 27.7% of the cases treated by antibiotics alone (p = 0.006).

Conclusion

This systematic review highlights diagnostic challenges and demonstrates that surgery improved outcome by reducing mortality in patients treated with the combined surgical and medical treatment option. Brucellosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of prosthetic valve endocarditis in patients residing in or traveling to areas of endemicity.

Brucella prosthetic valve endocarditis with septic and cardiogenic shock

A young man with aortic prosthetic valve replacement, presented with prolonged fever and diagnosed with brucella endocarditis based on positive transthoracic echo findings with high titer positive brucellacapt serology. He was started on medical treatment with doxycycline and rifampin to which gentamicin and ceftriaxone were added and he was planned for surgical intervention. Unfortunately, the patient developed cardiogenic with septic shock before performing surgery and died within 24 h soon after admission.

Brucella Endocarditis in Persons Who Inject Drugs

We report 2 cases of infective endocarditis in injection drug users due to Brucella infection. Although cardiac involvement is a frequent sequela of brucellosis and endocarditis is often seen with injection drug use, Brucella endocarditis in persons who inject drugs without zoonotic exposure has not been reported to date.