FUNGAL ENDOCARDITIS

Fungal endocarditis has become an important infection associated with medical progress and a modern lifestyle The most common organisms isol ated from patients with fungal endocarditis are: Aspergillus spp.; Can dida spp. and Torulopsis glabrata. Men are more frequently affected th an women and predisposing factors include: previous cardiac surgery, a ntibiotic use and hyperalimentation, long-term iv catheters. Common cl inical findings in patients with endocarditis include: fever, changing murmurs, peripheral emboli which are characteristically large and cho rioretinitis. Characteristic laboratory findings are absent and positi ve blood cultures are obtained only in a relatively small number of pa tients. Characteristically Aspergillus spp. almost never grow in blood cultures and must be isolated from removed emboli, from the diseased valve or from infected foreign bodies Overall survival in patients wit h fungal endocarditis is rather poor, and hardly exceeds 50%. In gener al, a combined surgical-medical approach would yield the best results. New therapeutic modalities are needed in order to improve the prognos is of fungal endocarditis.