RESUMO
Infective endocarditis can be acute or subacute. It can be caused by viral, bacterial, fungal, and sometimes nonbacterial etiologies. It is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in children as well as adolescents, despite advances in management. A 59-year-old male with a past medical history of aortic valve (AV) replacement on warfarin presented to the Emergency Department with dull right flank pain and poor dentition on examination. Computerized tomography (CT) scans of the abdomen revealed the presence of splenic and renal infarcts. Warfarin was held after the international normalized ratio (INR) was noted to be elevated at 11. Following the activation of the sepsis bundle in the ER, he received intravenous fluids (30 cc/kg) and was started on vancomycin and ceftriaxone. On further evaluation, the transesophageal echocardiogram revealed mobile densities on the aortic surface concerning vegetation. Antibiotics were transitioned to cefazolin, gentamycin, and rifampin for the management of prosthetic valve endocarditis. The patient's INR improved to 3.5 on the third day of hospitalization, and heparin was initiated to maintain anticoagulation for the prosthetic valve. However, on the eighth day of hospitalization, the patient developed left-sided weakness and slurred speech. The CT head showed acute frontoparietal intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), with an INR noted to be 5. Heparin was reversed with protamine sulfate, and vitamin K was administered, following which the INR improved to 2.3. The patient was transferred to intensive care, but on the second day of the ICU stay, the INR again shot up to 6 with normal LFTS. The patient received vitamin K, but the INR only improved to 5. Subsequently, antibiotics were changed from cefazolin to nafcillin. INR thus fell to 1.6 in two days after changing the antibiotics. The patient was soon transferred to a higher center for aortic valve replacement. While few case reports have described severe coagulopathy induced by cefazolin, it is particularly seen with impaired renal function; however, our patient's renal function was completely normal. Coagulopathy is due to the drug's effect on intestinal flora and its structural methyl-thiadiazole side chain, which has similar effects as epoxide reductase inhibitors and results in INR elevation. Patients on cefazolin need to be closely monitored for INR levels every day, as there is a high likelihood of developing complications like ICH, as noted in this patient. While the monitoring of cefazolin levels is not necessarily indicated, it is necessary to place patients on fall precautions and monitor INR levels every day, as mentioned above.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Catheter ablation (CA) is an important curative treatment for non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), however, nationwide data on its utilization and disparities is limited. Coronary vasospasm is a rare, life-threatening, peri-operative complication of CA with limited literature in Caucasians. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study on adult hospitalizations in the USA from 2007 to 2017 by obtaining the data from National Inpatient Sample. The primary endpoints of our study were to identify the utilization rate of CA, disparities in utilization, and study the outcomes associated with CA. The secondary endpoints of the study were to identify the incidence of coronary vasospasm amongst patients who underwent CA, evaluate their association, and identify the predictors of coronary vasospasm. RESULTS: From 35,906,946 patients with NVAF, 343641 (0.96%) underwent CA. Its utilization decreased from 1% in 2007 to 0.71% in 2017. Patients who underwent CA, compared to those without CA, fared better in terms of hospital length of stay, mortality rate, disability rate, and discharge to the non-home facility. Patients in the 50-75 years age group, Native Americans, those with private insurance, and median household income of 76-100th percentile were associated with higher odds of CA utilization. Urban teaching hospitals and large-bedded hospitals performed more ablations, while the Mid-West region fared lower than the South, the West, and the Northeast. The prevalence of coronary vasospasm was higher amongst CA in comparison without CA, however, in regression analysis, no significant association was demonstrated between CA and coronary vasospasm. CONCLUSION: CA is an important treatment modality that is associated with improved clinical outcomes. Identification of factors associated with lower utilization of CA and its disparities will help to mitigate the burden associated with NVAF.