藤田 晋一¹, 田内 潤², 西野 雅巳², 田中 健二郎², 森岡 敏一², 棚橋 秀生², 山田 義夫², 正木 友二¹, 山口 睦弘¹, 野村 誠¹

Shinichi FUJITA¹, Jun TANOUCHI², Masami NlSHINO², Kenjiro TANAKA², Toshikazu MORIOKA², Hideo TANAHASHI², Yoshio YAMADA², Yuji MASAKI¹, Mutuhiro YAMAGUCHI¹, Makoto NOMURA¹

¹大阪労災病院臨床検査科, ²大阪労災病院循環器内科

¹Clinical Laboratory, Osaka Rosai Hospital, ²Department of Cardiology, Osaka Rosai Hospital

キーワード : Infective endocarditis, Pulmonary valve, Tricuspid valve, Two-dimensional echocardiography, <I>Staphylococcus aureus</I>

Right-sided infective endocarditis (IE) is rare in Japan, probably because rate of drug addiction is lower in Japan than in the Western countries. We diagnosed three cases of right-sided IE using transthoracic echocardiography: two were isolated tricuspid valve IE, and one was pulmonary valve IE complicated with ventricular septal defect (VSD) and double-chambered right ventricule (DCRV). Two cases of isolated tricuspid valve IE were successfully treated by cardiac surgery: In one, the treatment consisted of vegetectomy and leaflet repair; in the other, replacement of the tricuspid valve. A thrid case ended with the sudden death of the patient before surgery. Transthoracic echocardiography proved useful for clinical diagnosis and follow-up of right-sided IE, as well as for clinical selection of surgical procedures.