What are the independent risk factors for early mortality in patients undergoing surgical therapy for prosthetic valve endocarditis?
Surgical treatment for prosthetic valve endocarditis carries a high in-hospital mortality (>20%), which is strongly predicted by critical clinical presentation and extensive anatomical lesions.
OBJECTIVES: Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is an uncommon yet dreadful complication in patients with prosthetic valves that requires a distinct analysis from native valve endocarditis. The present study aims to investigate independent risk factors for early surgical outcomes in patients with PVE. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in 8 Italian Cardiac Surgery Units from January 2000 to December 2013 by enrolling all PVE patients undergoing surgical treatment. RESULTS: A total of 209 consecutive patients were included in the study. During the study period, the global rate of surgical procedures for PVE among all operations for isolated or associated valvular disease was 0.45%. Despite its rarity this percentage increased significantly during the second time frame (2007-2013) in comparison with the previous one (2000-2006): 0.58% vs 0.31% (P 20%). Critical clinical presentation and extension of anatomical lesions are strong preoperative predictors for poor early outcome.
Luciani et al. (2017) studied this question.