Case Report

Cryptococcal Endocarditis

Authors: Mohammad Alhaji, MD Ruxana T. Sadikot, MD, MRCP(UK), FCCP

Abstract

Fungal infections of the heart are increasingly described especially in immunocompromised patients. Cardiac involvement can present with myocarditis, pericarditis or endocarditis. Cryptococcal endocarditis is extremely rare, with only four reported cases in the literature. The prognosis, natural history and the optimal management for cryptococcal endocarditis are not well described because of paucity of cases. We report the case of a patient with prosthetic aortic valve endocarditis due to C. neoformans. The diagnosis was confirmed with transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiogram, blood cultures that were positive for C. neoformans and high titers of cryptococcal antigen in the serum. The patient was successfully treated with liposomal amphotericin without surgical intervention.

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