Endocarditis is one of the diseases that our hospital's cardiology outpatient clinic deals with and one of the reasons why our patients visit us.

What is endocarditis?

It is an inflammation of the inner lining of the heart or heart valve. Complaints of vascular occlusion may occur due to microbes and inflammation. The risk of inflammation is higher in patients with previous heart valve diseases, prosthetic valve surgery, immune problems, embolism, alcohol and drug addiction, and patients with intravenous catheters.

Endocarditis, an infectious disease of bacterial origin, can also occur due to fungi. Endocarditis can be acute, subacute, or chronic endocarditis. The differences between the three types of endocarditis are; The duration of acute endocarditis is 6 weeks, subacute endocarditis can last from 6 weeks to 3 months, and chronic endocarditis lasts for more than 3 months. Complications that may develop in endocarditis types are usually stenosis and insufficiency of the heart valves, myocardial abscesses, pericarditis and embolism.

What Are the Symptoms of Endocarditis?

In patients with endocarditis, there are also symptoms that some biological and radiological tests are defective and that the patients can see with their own eyes. These problems may occur as sedimentation elevation, CRP elevation, bloody urine, heart murmur, cardiovascular occlusion, spleen enlargement, abscess, fever, night sweats and weight loss. Diagnosis of Endocarditis The practices that should be done to the patient when diagnosing endocarditis are ECG, ECO and blood cultures that should be examined for inflammation.Endocarditis Treatment Endocarditis treatment can be in the form of medication and surgery. It is useful to contact the infection doctor when starting drug treatment. After the diagnosis is made, by looking at all the tests, drug or antibiotic treatment can be started for inflammation.

The duration and dose of antibiotic treatment is decided by looking at the patient's previous heart disease and the risks it carries. The aim of surgical treatment is to eliminate the infection in the patient and to repair the heart structures and valves. If the clot goes to other organs, the infection does not go away with antibiotics and there is a condition that damages the heart valves, surgery is required. After diagnosing your disease by using biological and radiological diagnosis methods, our cardiologist will help you by planning your treatment by consulting the infection and microbiology specialist if necessary.