Korean J Med.  2005 Mar;68(3):316-319.

A case of infective endocarditis presented as cervical spondylodiscitis

• Park EM
• Kim NH
• Kim YK
• Yoo NJ
• Lee EM
• Oh SK
• Jeong JW

Abstract

Infective endocarditis is still one of the important fatal diseases, especially with systemic embolic manifestations. The occurrence of spondylodiscitis as a first manifestation of bacterial endocarditis is an uncommon condition. We experienced a case of infective endocarditis which presented as cervical spondylodiscitis. An 80-year-old man was admitted because of having a cervical backache and intermittent fever for one month, and he was initially diagnosed as spondylodiscitis by the radiologic study. However, the progression of the disease worsened in spite of undergoing an empirical treatment. After several days, the echocardiogram revealed mitral regurgitation and a vegetation. The blood cultures were positive for Streptococcus viridans. Thus, he was diagnosed as having infective endocarditis. This is the first case of infective endocarditis associated with cervical spondylodiscitis in Korea. Therefore, we report this case with a brief review of the related literatures.

Keyword

Bacterial endocarditis; Spondylodiscitis

MeSH Terms

Aged, 80 and over
Back Pain
Discitis*
Endocarditis*
Endocarditis, Bacterial
Fever
Humans
Korea
Mitral Valve Insufficiency
Viridans Streptococci