Endocarditis and Mitral Valve

[bbb]

Hi,

You might remember my post below. Last night my friend had a stroke, as a piece of vegetation traveled to his brain. Feeling is coming back this morning, but they are running a ton of tests and trying to see if there is another infection, possible abcess in the heart, more growth somewhere in the aorta...all unknowns right now. We are thinking of getting him moved from local hospital to nearby heart hospital. anyway, any insight into what might be happening appreciated.

Thanks, Betsy

It's almost 1 year since my surgery and all is great with me. However, my best friend has had quite a week! He never knew he had anything abnormal with his heart. Last week, he had sudden fever, rigors, chills, etc. and I ended up taking him to the ER (where they almost discharged him) because his vital signs were all over the place. To make a long story short, they found he had endocarditis ( haemophilus parainfluenza) and with a TEE, that his mitral valve was abnormal (I think prolapsed?) and the chordee had ruptured. Apparently they think the mitral valve can be repaired. It had a vegetation on it seen in the echo, not seen in the TEE, that they thought has broken off and tiny pieces are in his brain and some extremities. But they seem to think the antibiotics will dissolve these. He is home on antibiotics for the next 4-6 weeks to clear the infection and then he will see a cardiologist to begin to plan for the surgery to repair his mitral valve.



Thanks, Betsy

 

[sue943]

When I had endocarditis some vegetation broke off and I had a stroke, it was after that they discovered the endocarditis. I lost my mitral valve and aortic valve, that was in 2005.

I didn't have anything abnormal with my heart, that I knew of, no previous murmurs, no rheumatic fever, nothing. My endocarditis was as a result of having kidney stones blasted by laser.

Pass my good wishes to him.

 

[bbb]

An update, the cardiac surgeon has decided he needs surgery to repair or replace the mitral valve, in the next few days. He has recovered well from the stroke, but the surgery is risky. They think that the further along on the antibiotic treatment, the less risk of more strokes, but I know we are not out of the woods yet. He is young, 48 and otherwise pretty healthy, so please send prayers and thanks for all the support!

Betsy

 

[zipper2]

Thank-you on update and continued prayers.

zipper2 (DEB)

 

[heart of the matter]

Hi Betsy- I know that you posted this update on your friend a long time ago, but I wanted to share that I had endocarditis a little over a year ago, caused by the same bacteria. I heard from my infectious disease doc, and read myself that that h parainfluenza (part of the HACEK group) endocarditis is pretty rare. I knew that I had very mild mitral valve prolapse prior to getting sick, but otherwise the illness came "out of the blue". When I got sick, I spend 10 days feeling off/ on like I was in ice water, then the blood culture finally found something to treat. I did the 4 weeks of antibiotics, but one month later they found that my mitral valve was severely damaged, and like your friend, the chord had ruptured.
I feel thankful that I didn't have a stroke, as they are very common with this bacteria. I was able to have an open-heart repair of the mitral valve. I was 49 years old when I got sick/ had the surgery. I don't feel quite like I did before, but I am trying to stay active, and I am actually training to climb Mount Hood in a few months with the American Lung Association's "Climb for Clean Air" fundraiser.

How is your friend doing? Did he have a repair or a replacement? Thanks-Amy