Manifestaciones osteoarticulares de endocarditis

Infective endocarditis is a fatal disease unless specifically treated. This entity must be suspected immediately in all patients with fever or sepsis and heart murmur and an echocardiogram should be performed to confirm the diagnosis.

In a few case series, a significant proportion of patients diagnosed with infective endocarditis showed osteoarticular involvement, which preceded, sometimes by months, the onset of specific symptoms of endocarditis.

Even when no specific musculoskeletal symptoms associated with endocarditis are found, these symptoms must be kept in mind and infective endocarditis should be suspected when musculoskeletal manifestations are the presenting symptom, because of the potentially dire consequences of delaying specific antibiotic treatment.