Catheter-Directed Vegetation Aspiration in Tricuspid Valve Bacterial Endocarditis: A Potential Treatment for Poor Surgical Candidates

Infective endocarditis is a condition that has the potential to cause significant morbidity and mortality. Potential complications include sepsis, heart failure, atrioventricular block, embolic stroke, septic emboli, and intracardiac abscess formation. The backbone of treatment is intravenous antibiotics; however, in certain clinical scenarios, surgical management is also indicated to reduce complications and mortality. There exists a challenging subset of patients who require surgery but carry a high perioperative mortality risk. Percutaneous management of endocarditis is emerging as a potential treatment for this high-risk group of patients: it allows for an attempt at source control while avoiding the high risks of surgery. Herein, we present the case of a 35-year-old male presenting with hemoptysis secondary to pulmonary septic emboli in the setting of Enterococcus faecalis tricuspid endocarditis. He was determined to be a poor surgical candidate and underwent catheter-directed debulking of the tricuspid vegetation with excellent results.