Staphylococcus Lugdunensis Endocarditis and Cerebrovascular Accident: A Systemic Review of Risk Factors and Clinical outcome

Infective endocarditis (IE) secondary to Staphylococcus lugdunensis has been increasingly recognized since 1988. IE-related thromboembolism represents an associated complication of the disease and carries a dismal prognosis. However, the incidence of cerebrovascular accident secondary to S. lugdunensis IE is relatively uncommon and its treatment has not been clearly elucidated yet. We performed an extensive literature search using Pubmed, Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar to identify the articles using the following keywords: ‘Staphylococcus lugdunensis’, ‘infective endocarditis’, ‘stroke’, and ‘cerebrovascular accident.’ Patient characteristics, risk factors, severity of neurological deficit, echocardiographic findings, medical management, required surgical intervention, complications and mortality rate were reviewed in detail. Eighteen cases (mean age of 47.8 years, 55% male) from 17 publications with S. lugdunensis-related cerebrovascular accident (CVA) were identified. Of these, 16 (87%) cases were left-sided endocarditis and 10 (61%) cases experienced right-sided neurological deficit. The source of infection was documented in eight cases (50%) in which four cases (50%) were related to groin-related procedures and the mitral valve (52.5%) was mostly infected followed by aortic valve (37%). Surgical valve replacement was done in 61% of patients and overall mortality rate was 22%. S. lugdunensis endocarditis is associated with high mortality and morbidity, including a higher prevalence of CVA. Early disease identification with aggressive intervention is crucial for better outcomes.