| Abstrakt: |
The recovery rate of patients with subacute bacterial endocarditis has increased progressively, but death from incomplete eradication of the infection or from complications of the disease still occurs in 20% to 30% of the patients.1 It seems appropriate, therefore, that in every fatal case a careful scrutiny be made into the possible causes of failure, in the hope that the knowledge thus obtained may further improve the effectiveness of treatment.The accompanying report deals with a patient who was admitted four times to the hospital for the treatment of the original episode of subacute bacterial endocarditis and, subsequently, for relapses following apparently adequate courses of treatment. An analysis was made to determine why this patient died despite the use of various antibiotics, singly and in combination, and despite large doses of those antibiotics, apparently adequate according to careful bacteriologic and sensitivity studies.REPORT OF A CASEA 56-year-old man |
