Two patients with intravascular catheters who developed a serious complication such as infective endocarditis secondary to catheter-associated infection are described. These patients had a good resolution through antibiotic therapy and removal of the infected catheter without the need for cardiac surgery. Infections associated with the vascular catheter are frequent complications in carriers of vascular catheters that lead to possible serious consequences such as bacteremia or fungemia since they function as an entry point for germs that can infect a predisposed noble organ. Therefore, the present case report highlights the importance of considering endocarditis as a latent complication in patients with infectious risk associated with intravascular catheters and how to avoid the unnecessary use of a central venous catheter.

Objective: To describe the clinical, epidemiological, and surgical characteristics of cardiac interventions in a general hospital in Lima, Peru. Methods: a retrospective and descriptive study was carried-out at Hospital Maria Auxiliadora from 2009-2019, 41 patients were included. Results: Median age was 44 years (IQR: 26.5-58.5); 75.6% were females. Underlying conditions were arrhythmias (56.1%); blood hypertension (36.6%); strokes (24.4%) and diabetes (14.6%). Valve replacement using prosthetic valves was the most frequent procedure (39%), mainly mitral valve replacement; followed by surgical repairs of septum abnormalities, mainly atrial defects (26.8%). The most common post-operative complications were nosocomial pneumonia (14%), new arrhythmia (14%) and low output syndrome (12%). Mean times of extracorporeal circulation and aortic clamping were 97.5 ± 39.0 min and 68.1 ± 35.5 min, ...