A member of the American College of Physicians, Aiman Hamdan was the director of the critical care unit at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center. Aiman Hamdan is a co-author of several medical reports, including "Acute Myocardial Infarction Caused by Infective Endocarditis."
Often represented by an infection of an intracardiac device or the heart valve, but sometimes characterized by septal defect, infective endocarditis is a microbial infection that results in lesion comprising of inflammatory cells, accumulated platelets, and microorganism-enmeshed fibrin. Infective endocarditis is commonly caused by microbial infection associated with intravenous drug abuse and immunosuppression resulting in lower CD4 counts. A person with HIV has a greater chance of developing infective endocarditis from intravenous drug use.
A rare disorder comprising of about five to 10 percent of all endocarditis cases, right-sided infective endocarditis causes failure of the right side of the heart due to overload of blood volume and pressure mostly due to obstruction of the tricuspid orifice by a vegetative lesion. It can result in cough or chest pain associated with septic embolism of the lungs, as well as fever. A doctor can diagnose the condition with the aid of echocardiography, specifically transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography. In most cases, the infection can be managed with antimicrobial therapy. Sometimes, a patient may require intravenous therapy.
