Tricuspid Valve Fungal Endocarditis in a Patient with Breast Cancer and an Implantable Chemotherapy Venous Access Port

Authors

  • Petros Fountoulakis Cardiac Echocardiography Department, Asklepeion Voulas General Hospital, Voula
  • Aikaterini Siama Cardiac Echocardiography Department, Asklepeion Voulas General Hospital, Voula
  • Aimilianos Kalogeris Cardiac Echocardiography Department, Asklepeion Voulas General Hospital, Voula
  • Marianthi Iliopoulou 7th Respiratory Medicine Department and Asthma Center, Athens Chest Hospital “Sotiria”, Athens
  • Athanasios Tsoukas Cardiac Echocardiography Department, Asklepeion Voulas General Hospital, Voula
  • Athanasios Manolis Cardiac Echocardiography Department, Asklepeion Voulas General Hospital, Voula

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17987/icfj.v16i0.581

Keywords:

Cardiooncology, right sided infective endocarditis, fungal endocarditis, intraport catheter, breast cancer

Abstract

Fungal endocarditis, a rare and lethal infection, is aetiologically connected with Candida and Aspergillus species. Among these two agents, Candida is a common nosocomial infection with increasing rates over the last years and mortality up to 40% in cases of systemic candidiasis. In the present paper, we describe the case of a 58 year old woman with metastatic breast cancer under palliative chemotherapy who was hospitalized for recurrent episodes of fever due to fungal endocarditis of the implantable venous access port. Such cases may elude the attention of the physician and need to be taken into account especially in oncologic patients with implantable devices under chemotherapy regimens. The treatment of Candida endocarditis can be difficult because of the formation of biofilms on prosthetic devices. The prognosis of these patients may be ameliorated with the combination of fungal and invasive treatment.

Author Biography

Aikaterini Siama, Cardiac Echocardiography Department, Asklepeion Voulas General Hospital, Voula

Cardiology Department, cardiologist

References

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Published

2019-10-07

Issue

Vol. 16 (2019)

Section

Letters to the Editor

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