Coagulase negative staphylococci are the principal cause of prosthetic valve endocarditis but are a rare cause of native valve infections. However, the incidence of native valve endocarditis is increasing. Staphylococcus capitis is a coagulase negative staphylococcus with the capacity to cause endocarditis on native heart valves. Two cases of native valve endocarditis caused by S capitis are pr...

OBJECTIVES Infective endocarditis (IE) is a severe complication in Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) and recent guidelines from the BSAC recommend all patients undergo echocardiography. We assessed the use of echocardiography at a major tertiary referral centre and sought to identify those patients most likely to have positive findings. METHODS We retrospectively evaluated all cases of ...

The assessment of prosthetic valve function remains challenging. Echocardiography has become the key diagnostic tool not only because of its noninvasive nature and wide availability but also because of limitations inherent in alternative diagnostic techniques. Invasive evaluation is limited particularly in mechanical valves that cannot be crossed with a catheter, and in patients with both aorti...

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has shown favorable outcomes in patients with severe symptomatic aortic valve stenosis who are at high surgical risk or are unsuitable candidates for open heart surgery. However, concerns exist over treating patients who have previously undergone mitral valve surgery due to the potential interference between the mitral prosthetic valve or ring and ...

Mechanical heart valves are associated with a risk of thromboembolism and anticoagulation is generally recommended. However, this is inevitably associated with a risk of intracranial bleeding. The case of a patient who sustained an intracranial bleed while taking warfarin for a prosthetic aortic valve and a further two intracranial bleeds while on heparin as an inpatient is discussed and the li...

INTRODUCTION Percutaneous aortic valve replacement represents an alternative to conventional open-heart surgery for selected high-risk patients without the need for sternotomy, aortotomy, or cardiopulmonary bypass. We present the first Greek series of transcatheter prosthetic aortic valve implantation procedures, performed in our centre. METHODS All 12 patients (age 81 +/- 5 years) had severe...

Rapidly growing mycobacteria are non-tuberculous mycobacteria amply present in the environment. Although they are not usually pathogenic for humans, they are opportunistic in that they can cause disease in people with disadvantageous conditions or who are immunocompromised. Mycobacterium peregrinum, an opportunistic, rapidly growing mycobacteria, belongs to the M. fortuitum group and has been r...

Mechanical heart valves are associated with a risk of thromboembolism and anticoagulation is generally recommended. However, this is inevitably associated with a risk of intracranial bleeding. The case of a patient who sustained an intracranial bleed while taking warfarin for a prosthetic aortic valve and a further two intracranial bleeds while on heparin as an inpatient is discussed and the li...

The flow field past a prosthetic aortic valve comprises many details that indicate whether the prosthesis is functioning well or not. It is, however, not yet fully understood how an optimal flow scenario would look, i.e. which subtleties of the fluid dynamics in place are essential regarding the durability and compatibility of a prosthetic valve. In this study, we measured and analyzed the 3D f...

BACKGROUND No large prospective studies have evaluated the efficacy of fibrinolytic therapy for left-sided prosthetic valve thrombosis, yet it remains the first line of treatment in developing countries. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed a randomized controlled trial comparing an accelerated infusion with the conventional infusion of streptokinase in 120 patients with a first episode of left-s...