Nocardial endocarditis after mitral valve replacement: case report and review of the literature.

Nocardia causes several types of infection in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts, and may affect any organ. Endocarditis due to infection by Nocardia species is rare and has a poor prognosis. To our knowledge, after a literature review, only 12 cases of nocardial endocarditis have been reported, most treated with valve replacement. We report the case of a patient with prosthetic valve endocarditis due to Nocardia species, who was successfully treated with antimicrobial chemotherapy only (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole), instead of valve replacement.