Acute endocarditis in drug addicts: surgical treatment for multiple valve infection

Long term surgical outcomes for infective endocarditis in people who inject drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

In recent years, the number of infective endocarditis (IE) cases associated with injection drug use has increased. Clinical guidelines suggest deferring surgery for IE in people who inject drugs (PWID) due to a concern for worse outcomes in comparison to non-injectors (non-PWID). We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of long-term outcomes in PWID who underwent cardiac surgery and compared these outcomes to non-PWID.

Methods

We systematically searched for studies reported between 1965 and 2018. We used an algorithm to estimate individual patient data (eIPD) from Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves and combined it with published individual patient data (IPD) to analyze long-term outcomes after cardiac surgery for IE in PWID. Our primary outcome was survival. Secondary outcomes were reoperation and mortality at 30-days, one-, five-, and 10-years. Random effects Cox regression was used for estimating survival.

Results

We included 27 studies in the systematic review and 19 provided data (KM or IPD) for the meta-analysis. PWID were younger and more likely to have S. aureus than non-PWID. Survival at 30-days, one-, five-, and 10-years was 94.3, 81.0, 62.1, and 56.6% in PWID, respectively; and 96.4, 85.0, 70.3, and 63.4% in non-PWID. PWID had 47% greater hazard of death (HR 1.47, 95% CI, 1.05–2.05) and more than twice the hazard of reoperation (HR 2.37, 95% CI, 1.25–4.50) than non-PWID.

Conclusion

PWID had shorter survival that non-PWID. Implementing evidence-based interventions and testing new modalities are urgently needed to improve outcomes in PWID after cardiac surgery.

Centrimag right ventricular support after tricuspid valvectomy for endocarditis

Recurrent endocarditis of a bioprosthetic tricuspid valve is a challenging condition, which sometimes requires complete valvectomy. We report a case in which a right ventricular assist device, a Thoratec Centrimag Blood Pump (Thoratec Corp., Pleasanton, CA), was successfully used for temporary hemodynamic support to protect the right ventricle until the new tricuspid bioprosthesis could be safely implanted.

Measuring levels of comorbidity in drug user* emergency patients treated in Ontario hospitals

We examined the nature and extent of health problems in drug user patients initially treated in emergency departments and who were subsequently admitted to all hospitals in Ontario, using data from the Hospital Medical Records Institute (HMRI). The modified standardized morbidity ratio (modified SMR) is introduced to improve the measurement and visual display of reduced morbidity as well as excess morbidity. During 1985-86, about 75% of drug user patients entered hospital through the emergency department. There were 5077 emergency patients with primary drug use-related diagnoses and 9827 with secondary drug use-related diagnoses. Cases with poisoning diagnosis made up over 80% of all drug use cases treated in emergency departments. Cases with non-dependent abuse of drugs accounted for 8-12% of emergency drug user patients, whereas those with drug dependence accounted for about 3% of emergency drug user patients. These patients had more than three times the comorbidity experience of all hospital patients. They had excess comorbidity due to mental disorders, infectious and parasitic disorders, and injury and poisoning diagnoses. However, they had reduced comorbidity due to complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium and from congenital anomalies and conditions originating in the perinatal period. Cocaine patients were more likely to have infectious parasitic diseases and diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue, while amphetamine patients were more likely to have diseases of the digestive system and of the musculo-skeletal system and connective tissue.

Surgical management of endocarditis in drug addicts and long-term results

From 1977 to May 1989, 57 successive patients who were known drug addicts with endocarditis were operated on at the Weiler Division of Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The most common lesion was aortic endocarditis. Thirty day in hospital mortality was 9%. Recurrent infection did not occur in the preAIDS era. Since the advent of HIV positive patients, failure of antibiotics to control the infection preoperatively has been seen and carries with it a severe risk of recurrent and fatal postoperative sepsis. The long-term survival was, at about 10% over 5-10 years, just good enough to warrant continued efforts in this very difficult group of patients.

Infective endocarditis in opiate addicts: analysis of 80 cases studied at necropsy

Eighty opiate addicts were studied at necropsy. Fifty-nine patients had anatomic evidence of active infective endocarditis (IE); 11 had healed IE; and 10 had both. Of the 80 patients, the first episode of IE involved a single right-sided cardiac valve in 24 patients (30%); both a right- and a left-sided valve in 13 patients (16%); a single left-sided valve in 33 patients (41%); and both left-sided valves in 10 patients (13%). Of the 320 cardiac valves in the 80 patients, 103 were sites of vegetations, an average of 1.3 of the 4 valves. Of the 80 patients, the tricuspid valve was infected in 35 (44%), mitral in 34 (43%), aortic in 32 (40%) and pulmonic in 2 (3%). Of the 103 infected cardiac valves, the infection caused sufficient damage to cause dysfunction in 70 (68%): in 28 (88%) of 32 infected aortic valves; in 22 (63%) of 35 infected tricuspid valves; in 19 (56%) of the 34 infected mitral valves; and in 1 of the 2 infected pulmonic valves. Of the 80 patients, 57 (71%) had sufficient valvular damage to cause valvular dysfunction. Of the 80 patients, gross examination of the valves at necropsy indicated that the infected valve almost certainly had been anatomically normal in 65 patients (81%) and abnormal in 15 patients (19%) before the onset of IE. Of the 65 patients with previously anatomically normal valves, 86 (33%) of their 260 cardiac valves were sites of infection (average 1.3 valves/patient); of the 15 patients with infection superimposed on a previously abnormal valve, the infection in each involved previously abnormal valves (21 in the 15 patients) or 17 (28%) of their 60 cardiac valves were sites of infection (average 1.1 valve/patient). Of the 15 patients with abnormal cardiac valves before the infection, 7 had congenitally bicuspid aortic valves and 8 had diffuse fibrous thickening of the mitral valve typical of rheumatic heart disease with (6 patients) or without (2 patients) diffuse fibrous thickening of tricuspid aortic valves. Of the 80 patients, 42 (53%) died during their first episode of active IE, 17 (21%) underwent operative excision with or without valve replacement during the active IE, and in 21 patients (26%) the first episode of active IE healed. In 10 of the latter 21 patients, active IE recurred and was fatal. A total of 19 patients had cardiac valve excision with or without replacement, 17 during active IE and 2 after healing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)