Kuo Yen-Shou, Tsai Yuan-Ming
Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City 11490, Taiwan.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2023 Jul 17;13(14):2386. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13142386.
Infective endocarditis (IE) is a severe and potentially life-threatening infection that affects the endocardium, the inner lining of the heart chambers and valves. Although rare, it is a potentially fatal condition, with an incidence of 3-10 cases per 100,000 people per year in developed countries and a mortality rate of up to 30% within 30 days. Early identification and diagnosis are critical for improving outcomes. The diagnosis of IE typically involves a combination of biomarkers, blood cultures, and echocardiography. However, currently, there are no specific biomarkers for the early detection of IE. Given the lack of specific biomarkers for IE, serum calcium levels have been suggested to play a unique role in IE. There have been few articles on the correlation between serum calcium and IE, suggesting that patients with endocarditis and lower levels of serum calcium may have a poorer prognosis. Therefore, in this article, we focus on biomarkers of endocarditis and discuss the evidence showing serum calcium as a potential indicator of IE.
感染性心内膜炎（IE）是一种严重且可能危及生命的感染，会影响心内膜，即心脏腔室和瓣膜的内层。尽管罕见，但它是一种潜在的致命疾病，在发达国家每年每10万人中有3至10例发病，30天内死亡率高达30%。早期识别和诊断对于改善预后至关重要。IE的诊断通常需要结合生物标志物、血培养和超声心动图。然而，目前尚无用于早期检测IE的特异性生物标志物。鉴于缺乏IE的特异性生物标志物，血清钙水平被认为在IE中发挥独特作用。关于血清钙与IE之间相关性的文章较少，提示患有心内膜炎且血清钙水平较低的患者预后可能较差。因此，在本文中，我们重点关注心内膜炎的生物标志物，并讨论表明血清钙作为IE潜在指标的证据。
