ObjectiveTo discuss the diagnosis and treatment of culture-negative aortic infective endocarditis.MethodsThe clinical data of 73 patients with infective endocarditis of the aortic valve whose results of bacteria culture were negative from January 2013 to January 2018 were retrospectively analyzed, including 59 males and 14 females aged 14-71 (39.2±14.8) years.ResultsSixty seven (91.8%) patients received aortic valve replacement, 2 (2.7%) patients received the second operation in hospital, and 12 (16.4%) patients had concomitant mitral valvuloplasty. In-hospital death occurred in 8 (11.0%) patients. Postoperatively, 11 (20.7%) patients had a low cardiac output and 4 (11.0%) patients had heart block, and 1 patient required implantation of a permanent pacemaker. The 1- and 5- year survival rates were 92.3%±2.3% and 84.5%±4.5%, respectively.ConclusionThere are difficulties in the diagnosis and treatment of culture-negative infective endocarditis. Most of the affected patients are in a healed status, which could be a cause of negative culture results. In-hospital mortality in the patients is associated with a history of previous cardiac surgery, whereas the long-term survival rate is good for the patients after surgery.
