PERSISTENT FEVER IN A PATIENT WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE AND A HIGH-VELOCITY SHUNT: A CASE REPORT.

In patients with congenital heart disease (CHD), presence of intracardiac shunt can be a substrate for infective endocarditis (IE). Our aim was to highlight that this diagnosis should always be suspected when CHD patients present with persistent fever. In this case report, we describe the case of a 33-year-old female patient with a history of perimembranous ventricular septal defect (VSD) who presented to the hospital with persistent fever. Six months ago, the patient had undergone a tooth extraction under antibiotic prophylaxis. The transthoracic echocardiogram revealed a mobile mass, consistent with vegetation in the tricuspid valve. The blood cultures grew Streptococcus mitis. Antimicrobial treatment was initiated for IE. Symptoms and inflammation markers improved, but the patient relapsed in the 4th week of treatment. Transesophageal echocardiogram revealed a new mobile vegetation attached to the right ventricular outflow tract and the patient was referred for surgery. Her postoperative course was uneventful.