A 47 y/o male sees his physician complaining ofshortness of breath, weakness and light-headedness. Px historyshows that he had a ‘heart murmur’ during childhood. The physiciannotes that the Px has an irregular heartbeat with palpitations withactive pulsing seen in the neck and pitting edema in the lowerextremities. The physician refers the Px to the cardiovascular unitwhere he undergoes a chest X-ray, an ECG, an echocardiogram andfinally a cardiac catherization where it is found he hasregurgitation of the tricuspid valve. The Px undergoes a successfuloperation to replace the damaged valve with a bioprosthetic valve.However, 11 days after the operation, the Px has the same symptomsprior to surgery, but this time he is spiking a fever.
Based on these observations, what would your diagnosisbe?
What further tests would you run to support yourdiagnosis?
