Medication‐assisted treatment for hospitalized patients with intravenous‐drug‐use related infective endocarditis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A feared complication of opioid use disorder (OUD) is intravenous drug use related infective endocarditis (IDU-IE). We report on our experience engaging hospitalized IDU-IE patients to initiate medication-assisted treatment (MAT). METHODS: A retrospective study (n = 29) using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Overall, 9 (31.0%) successfully initiated buprenorphine maintenance during the hospitalization, and 9 (31.0%) accepted a referral to methadone maintenance following discharge. Eleven (37.9%) declined MAT altogether. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalizations may represent an important opportunity to engage IDU-IE patients to initiate MAT. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: The study provides preliminary support of engaging hospitalized IDU-IE patients to initiate MAT.