Is it necessary to be hospitalized during IV treatment?
Yes and it answers some questions by listing the most common causesGood site about prosthetic heart valves:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/780702-overview
Sounds like, if I am interpreting this right, there is not a huge risk of endocarditis for people with prosthetic heart valves:
PVE (Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis) occurs in 2-4% of patients. The incidence is 3% in the first postoperative year, then 0.5% for subsequent years. The incidence is higher in mitral valves. Mechanical and biological valves are equally susceptible.
i was under the impression that valvers are no more likely to get endo
than anyone else. maybe if you've had it before (and that's what caused
valve problem in the first place) you might be more susceptible than most.
once the infection is gone (and left a ruined valve), it's pretty much run
its course. of course they'll do a blood test for endo, even though mine
was 35 years or so prior.
maybe someone knows for sure if this is true? i could be wrong.
i'm going on the assumption that i'm predisposed to be susceptible to endo.
just because of how my body is made, not because of the new valve.
anyway, the new valve is dead meat, so shouldn't be able to 'catch a cold.'
regardless, in the event of extended or high fever, i plan to request a
blood test just to be sure.
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