Infection and Drug Resistance (Jan 2023)

Pacemaker Associated Aspergillus fumigatus Endocarditis: A Case Report

  • Chen W,
  • Ji Y,
  • Hong X,
  • Zhu Y,
  • Gou X,
  • Chen M,
  • Lv H,
  • Ge Y

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 329 – 335

Abstract

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Wanyuan Chen,1,2 Youqi Ji,2 Xin Hong,2 Yongze Zhu,2 Xiaoyu Gou,2 Mengyuan Chen,2 Huoyang Lv,2 Yumei Ge1– 3 1Department of Pathology, Cancer Center, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, 310014, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Laboratory Medicine Center, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, 310014, People’s Republic of China; 3Key Laboratory of Biomarkers and in vitro Diagnosis Translation of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310063, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yumei Ge, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Laboratory Medicine Center, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, No. 158, Shang-Tang Road, Gong-Shu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310014, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-0571-85893264, Email [email protected]: Aspergillus endocarditis (AE) is a highly fatal infection that can occur in heart valve replacement, pacemaker implantation and other heart surgeries, and early recognition and sufficient diagnosis are challenging. Here, we report the case of a 68-year-old male with a history of dilated cardiomyopathy and pacemaker implantation who had a repeated fever with failed antibacterial treatment and sterile blood culture. He developed endocarditis, and the culture and biopsy of vegetation tissue showed the abundant presence of septate hyphae, which was subsequently identified as Aspergillus fumigatus by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing. Although the patient had serious side effects from voriconazole, he had a good prognosis following surgery and prolonged caspofungin antifungal therapy of 42 consecutive days. We discuss the diagnosis and treatment strategy of AE, and recommend galactomannan assays and next-generation sequencing for a timely diagnosis. Early surgical intervention combined with prompt antifungal therapy appears significant for survival.Keywords: Aspergillus endocarditis, AE, Aspergillus fumigatus, vegetation, culture, fever

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