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. 2005 Jun;18(6):690-6.
doi: 10.1111/j.1432-2277.2005.00120.x.

Severe endocarditis in transplant recipients--an epidemiologic study

Elfriede Ruttmann  1 , Hugo Bonatti, Christina Legit, Hanno Ulmer, Ingrid Stelzmueller, Herwig Antretter, Raimund Margreiter, Guenter Laufer, Ludwig C Mueller
Affiliations
Free article

Severe endocarditis in transplant recipients--an epidemiologic study

Elfriede Ruttmann et al. Transpl Int. 2005 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Infective endocarditis (IE) is reported with an incidence of 6/100,000 inhabitants in the general population. Even though immunosuppression predisposes to systemic infection, reports regarding IE after solid organ transplantation (SOT) are sparse. From 1989 to 2004, 2556 patients underwent SOT at the University Hospital Innsbruck. During this period, 27 transplant recipients were diagnosed IE. Nine patients (33.3%) were diagnosed at autopsy, eight patients (29.6%) were cured by antibiotic treatment and 10 patients (37.1%) underwent surgery. Overall mortality was 44.4% (12 patients). Staphylococcus was the predominant microorganism in 16 cases (59.3%), fungal infection was present in four patients (14.8%). Incidence of IE was 1% (95% CI: 0.67-1.49), indicating a 171-fold risk compared with the overall population. IE after SOT constitutes a significant problem and is associated with an excessive high mortality. Alertness to this condition is indicated, as we might diagnose more cases of IE in the future.

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