Case report of hepatic mucormycosis after liver transplantation: successful treatment with liposomal amphotericin B followed by posaconazole sequential therapy.

Mucormycosis is a rare but emerging fungal infection complicating solid organ transplantation (SOT), with a cumulative incidence of around 2% during the first year after SOT. The associated mortality rate is high, and surgical debridement is frequently required as part of the treatment along with antifungal therapy based mostly on amphotericin B formulations, We describe here an unusual case of hepatic mucormycosis in a liver transplant recipient that was successfully treated with clinical therapy based on liposomal amphotericin B followed by posaconazole, without surgical resection.

[Infective endocarditis associated with pregnancy]. / Endocardite infecciosa relacionada à gravidez.

PURPOSE: To report the intra-hospitalar and late follow-up of patients with infective endocarditis (IE) acquired in the pregnancy or puerperium. METHODS: Eleven patients, between 1984-1992 according to the beginning of the IE episode (fever and other signals) were studied. Patients were divided in two groups: IE of pregnancy (7 cases), and puerperal IE (4 cases). RESULTS: In the pregnancy IE group, mitral valve was affected in 6 (85%), and aortic valve in 1 (15%). During the course of the treatment, two patients had to be operated on, respectively, in the 24th and 28th week of the pregnancy. The 1st one had a successfully mitral valve replacement by a biological prosthesis but 48 h later she aborted, and the 2nd presented neurological complication (intracerebral hemorrhage) in the immediate post-operative period of a successfully mitral valve replacement by biological prosthesis. She was undergone to a cesarean but the fetus remained alive for 24 h only. If we look at the newborns (fetus), only 4 of them survived. Out of 3 fetal deaths, 2 had close association with mother cardiac surgeries. In the pregnant period acquired IE, 3 (47%) mothers died. In the puerperium group, 2 mitral valves and 2 aortic valves had IE. Two of them had to be operated on due to an important aortic regurgitation and cardiac failure. There were no deaths in this group. CONCLUSION: During pregnancy, IE showed a high morbi-mortality for mother and concept. The mother's neurological complications played a major role in the poor outcome during the pregnancy period.

[Endocarditis due to Mycobacterium chelonei in a valvular prosthesis]. / Endocardite por Mycobacterium chelonei em prótese valvar.

Male aged 40 year, with infective endocarditis in valvular prosthesis caused by Mycobacterium chelonei. This agent is unusual in this situation and rarely identified by the blood cultures.

[Infective endocarditis in patients with permanent pacemaker]. / Endocardite infecciosa em pacientes com marcapasso definitivo.

Five patients who had permanent pacemaker and infective endocarditis were analyzed. Diagnose was confirmed by a positive blood cultures in all patients and 2 of them had identifiable vegetation in the echocardiogram too. The etiologic agent was Staphylococcus aureus in 3, Staphylococcus epidermidis in 1 and Staphylococcus viridans in 1. Three patients were treated with antibiotics alone: one had no clinical conditions to be operated, one died before surgery and one had good response to antimicrobial therapy alone. Two patients were submitted to antibiotic therapy and surgical removal of the pacemaker system, without complications. It was concluded that the surgical removal of the pacemaker system, as soon as possible, is the choice's therapy.

[Myocardial infarction in infective endocarditis]. / Infarto do miocárdio na endocardite infecciosa.

Two patients with chronic valvular heart disease and myocardial infarction were assisted at our hospital. Both of them were febrile and only one had petechiae associated with signs of valvular involvement led to suspicion of infective endocarditis. Although blood cultures were negative, echocardiographic, surgical and anatomopathologic findings were compatible with infective endocarditis. They required cardiac surgery during the acute phase of the infection because they presented progressive hemodynamic deterioration and no satisfactory response to antimicrobial regimen too. One patient died at late follow-up (two weeks after the hospital discharge) and the other survived, but with signs of cardiac failure (class II of NYHA) one year after the procedure.

Correçäo cirúrgica dos tumores primários do coraçäo / Surgical correction of primary heart tumors

No período de 1962 a 1991, no Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia, foram tratados cirurgicamente 52 pacientes portadores de tumores primários do coraçao. Dentre os tumores benignos, 43 eram mixomas, 5 fibromas, 1 fibroelastomapapilar, l rabdomioma e apenas 2 malignos (rabdomiossarcomas). A idade média foi de 4l,l anos; 33 pacientes eram do sexo feminino e l9 do masculino; 53,84 por cento apresentaram-se com insuficiência cardíaca congestiva, 19,2 por cento com dor precordial e/ou palpitaçoes e 17,3 por cento com taquiarritmias. A ressecçao completa do tumor foi possível em 50 pacientes e os 2 com tumores malignos foram apenas submetidos a biopsia. Todos os pacientes sobreviveram à cirurgia; entretanto, 3 pacientes foram a óbito no período hospitalar. Um paciente com mixoma apresentou recorrência três anos após e foi reoperado com sucesso. Temos em acompanhamento tardio 20 pacientes, que se encontram em classe funcional I (NYHA) e os resultados sao bastante satisfatórios.