ASPERGILLUS-TERREUS ENDOCARDITIS ON A NAT IVE VALVE

A case of primitive Aspergillus terreus infective endocarditis is repo rted in a 72-year-old patient with no known cardiac disease or immunoc ompromission. The interval between the first clinical signs of infecti ve endocarditis and the diagnosis was 20 days. Five days later, defini te diagnosis of Aspergillus endocarditis was done after valve replacem ent and femoral embolectomy. Aspergillus serology and circulating anti gen detection were both positive and were proved to be useful for an e arly diagnosis of Aspergillus endocarditis when their determinations w ere systematic and repeated. Despite valve replacement and antifungal treatment with intravenous amphotericin B (1 mg/kg/day) and itraconazo le (400 mg/day), the patient died 15 days after valve replacement. Cli nical data, therapeutical consideration and outcome of our case were c ompared with those of ten cases formely reported.