Brucella tricuspid endocarditis: Case report

Abstract

Objectives: Brucella tricuspid endocarditis is a very rare. The diagnostic is made by serology and echocardiography (TTE). This new report case is an opportunity for us to make a reminder of this little-known entity among cardiologists and heart surgeon. Methods: We report the case of 15-year-old children who present persisant fever and dyspnea. The physical exam found asystolic murmur, chest X-ray showed cardiomegaly, TTE demonstrated vegetations in chordate, papillary muscle, infundibulum, and left pulmonary artery with tricuspid insufficiency III, pulmonary angiography: proximal emboli of left pulmonary artery, positives blood culture: Brucella meltiness and serology positive. Excision of tricuspid and pulmonary vegetations and tricuspid repair under cardiopulmonary bypass. Results: The immediate postoperative course was simple. Conclusion: Brucella endocarditis is an uncommon, but serious complication of brucellosis. The tricuspid valve is rarely affected cardiac valve. Due to characteristics of the infection, medical therapy alone is not sufficient in treating the disease and best results are obtained with surgery combination. We describe a case of Brucella endocarditis involving the tricuspid valve suspected in front of the clinical data and the results of serology, confirmed by the culture of the native valves. In association with the medical treatment, management valve surgery lead to a favourable medium-term evolution. Keywords: Brucella endocarditis; Tricuspid; Cardiopulmonary bypass