153. A Review of Ten Cases of Pulmonic Valve Infective Endocarditis

Abstract

Background. Pulmonic valve (PV) infective endocarditis (IE) is a rare entity, accounting for ~1.5-2% of all cases of IE. As a result, published literature describing the diagnosis and management of patients with PVIE is limited. Methods. A retrospective review of patients >=18 years old admitted to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center from 2012 to 2017 with a diagnosis of PVIE based on the modified Duke criteria was performed. Results. Ten patients were identified as having PVIE, 9 of whom had isolated PV involvement and 1 of whom had concurrent aortic valve involvement. The diagnosis of IE was definite per the modified Duke criteria in 8 patients. The median age was 41 years and 30% were female. Two patients had pacemakers, 1 had a prosthetic PV, and 1 had congenital heart disease. Six patients were identified as persons who inject drugs (PWID). On admission, 5 patients manifested fever and 5 had a documented murmur. Seven patients had septic pulmonary emboli with 4 of 7 patients manifesting pulmonary hypertension. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) revealed vegetations in 4 of 10 patients whereas PV vegetations were demonstrated in all 8 patients undergoing transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). S. aureus was the most common causative organism, accounting for 5 of the cases of PVIE with four of the five isolates being methicillin-resistant. Bacteremia persisted for a median of 3 days. One patient underwent PV replacement. The planned median duration of antimicrobial therapy was 6 weeks. The median length of stay was 18 days. Three patients died during the index hospitalization, 1 of whom was a PWID. No episodes of repeat PVIE occurred within 1 year. Conclusion. PVIE is a rare disease. Only 40% of our patients had vegetations on TTE in contrast to a reported diagnostic yield of >90% in the literature. As such, PVIE may be underdiagnosed. S aureus was the most common organism isolated, which is in keeping with prior reports. PWID appear to be at high risk for PVIE. In view of the worsening opioid epidemic, more research on PVIE is warranted. (Figure Presented) .