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Current Research in Emergency Medicine
[ ISSN : 2832-5699 ]


Endocarditis in the Emergency Department: A POCUS Case Series

Case Report
Volume 2 - Issue 1 | Article DOI : 10.54026/CREM/1017


Weaam Alshenawy, Hussain Alrobeh, Carl Mirus IV, John DeAngelis*

Published : January 20, 2022

Abstract

Introduction Infectious endocarditis remains a difficult to diagnose entity in the emergency department. This is partially due to vague and non-specific presenting symptoms but also because the Major Duke criteria [1,2] are difficult to achieve in the timeframe of the standard emergency department visit. This can lead to diagnostic uncertainty and delay in treatment. Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) has grown significantly in the emergency setting and is now readily available in most departments [3]. Utilizing POCUS in this difficult subset of patients can successfully identify endocarditis earlier and lead to improved treatment times. Cases Each of the three cases in this report demonstrate an episode of care in which the patient presented with non-specific symptoms. In two, endocarditis was suspected, while in the third case there was significant distraction to make the diagnosis very difficult. In each case, POCUS was applied successfully confirming the diagnosis of endocarditis when added to the minor Duke criteria already present. This led to a confirmation of diagnosis up to 12 hours before formal confirmation during the patients’ admissions. Conclusion While this specific indication for POCUS is currently outside the core utilization in the ED, and significant limitations remain: i.e. unknown sensitivity, this series demonstrates that POCUS provides value in the work up of suspected endocarditis by confirming the diagnosis earlier. This series suggests that further research into the sensitivity of POCUS for endocarditis in the ED may be warranted.