Right ventricular endocarditis due to infection of pacemaker apparatus.

This article describes an unusual case of endocarditis in a 73-year-old man with a permanent pacemaker. Echocardiography revealed vegetations in the right ventricle below the tricuspid valve only, and he required open heart surgery for removal of the pacemaker system. This case demonstrates the potentially protracted course of infective endocarditis many years after pacemaker insertion. It also emphasizes the importance of echocardiography in diagnosing right ventricular vegetations; and the need for total replacement of the endocardial pacing system whenever it becomes infected.