We report the clinical course of a patient with a history of transapical aortic “valve-in-valve”
transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), actually suffering from prosthetic
valve endocarditis. The patient now underwent cardiac surgery as a salvage procedure.
The procedure itself was uneventful, but the patient died several days postoperative
due to persisting sepsis. The present case raises the question, how to deal with high-risk
patients, once considered unsuitable for cardiac surgery in presence of prosthetic
valve infection? Up to now, there exists only insufficient knowledge about incidence,
clinical course, and effectiveness of treatment strategies for prosthetic valve endocarditis
after TAVI. A review of the available literature is given.
Keywords
TAVI - valve-in-valve - endocarditis - prosthetic valve endocarditis
