Rheumatological Manifestations of Infective Endocarditis
Ann Rheum Dis: first published as 10.1136/ard.43.5.716 on 1 October 1984. Downloaded from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 1984, 43, 716-720 Rheumatological manifestations of infective endocarditis Ph. THOMAS,' J. ALLAL,2 D. BONTOUX,' F. ROSSI,3 J. Y. POUPET,3 J. P. PETITALOT,2 AND B. BECQ-GIRAUDON4 From the Departments of 'Rheumatology, 2Cardiology A, 3Internal Medicine, 4Infectious Diseases, CHU La Miletrie, 86000 Poitiers, France SUMMARY A retrospective study showed musculoskeletal manifestations in 32 of 108 patients treated for infective endocarditis in several departments at the Poitiers CHU. Such manifesta- tions included articular pain or aseptic arthritis, typically involving the major joints, as well as vertebral osteomyelitis, low back pain (inflammatory or non-inflammatory), and myalgia. Patients showing such signs were generally younger than those without musculoskeletal involvement, diagnosis was made later, and prognosis was worse; streptococcus D was more often involved, and microscopic haematuria was more common. With the exception of vertebral osteomyelitis, the pathogenesis was not clear. Key words: bacterial endocarditis, rheumatology, arthritis, arthralgia, low back pain, vertebral osteomyelitis. copyright. Musculoskeletal manifestations of infective en- increase in organic murmur. Echocardiographic, docarditis (IE) are particularly hard to diagnose, surgical, or necropsy reports confirmed the diagno- and until recently their frequency has been under- sis in all cases where they were available. estimated. Reviewing 108 cases of patients admitted Assay of circulating immune complexes (CIC) to hospital for IE at the Poitiers CHU we sought to was carried out by a modified polyethylene glycol http://ard.bmj.com/ determine: (a) the type and frequency of rheumato- (PEG)-precipitation technique.' C4 precipitated by logical manifestations of IE; (b) the clinical and PEG was expressed as a function of serum C4 laboratory characteristics of IE with or without such concentration, with assay carried out by nephel- manifestations.
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