Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials (Mar 2019)

Late prosthetic valve endocarditis with Mycobacterium tuberculosis after the Bentall procedure

  • Qianqian Liu,
  • Jialin Jin,
  • Lingyun Shao,
  • Shanshan Weng,
  • Ju Zhou,
  • Feng Li,
  • Wenhong Zhang,
  • Xinhua Weng,
  • Yan Gao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12941-019-0314-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18, no. 1
pp. 1 – 5

Abstract

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Abstract Background Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is a rare but severe complication of valve replacement surgery, with an incidence rate of 0.3–1.2% per patient-year. At present, staphylococci are the predominant causative microorganism of PVE. Herein, we report a confirmed case of late PVE in a mechanical aortic valve caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Case presentation A 32-year-old immunocompetent man with recurrent fever and 5-kg weight loss had a history of having undergone the Bentall procedure due to congenital heart disease. Nine years after the operation, he developed a paravalvular abscess in the mechanical aortic valve, presented with evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis on CT scan and was diagnosed with tuberculous endocarditis. This case report highlights a rare and non-negligible example of tuberculous endocarditis involving a mechanical valve. Conclusions Tuberculous PVE should be considered in patients with a history of valve replacement, recurrent fever, unexplained weight loss, pulmonary tuberculosis and meaningful valvular findings on echocardiogram.

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