Culture Negative Infective Endocarditis Associated with Osler’s Nodes

• Main Authors: SUINDU K.N. DASH, C. SUGUNAKAR, M.K. KAR
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited 2012-04-01
• Series: Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research
• Subjects: infective endocarditis; osler’s nodes; culture negative
• Online Access: https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/1894/40-%203829.A.pdf

Infective endocarditis is a form of endocarditis, or inflammation, of the inner tissue of the heart, such as its valves, caused by infectious agents. The agents are usually bacterial, but other organisms can also be responsible. The prototypic lesion of infective endocarditis the vegetation is a mass of platelets, fibrin, micro-colonies of microorganisms, and scant inflammatory cells. Infection most commonly involves heart valves (either native or prosthetic) but may also occur on the low-pressure side of a ventricular septal defect, on the mural endocardium where it is damaged by aberrant jets of blood or foreign bodies, or on intracardiac devices themselves. We studied one patient of rheumatic heart disease with fever, osler’s nodes and echocardiographic evidence of endocarditis but blod culture was negative. Patient was successfully treated with antibiotics. This article highlights the diagnostic utility of osler’s nodes in culture negative endocarditis.