Prognosis of prosthetic valve infective endocarditis due to Streptococcus spp., a retrospective multi-site study to assess the impact of antibiotic treatment duration.

PURPOSE: The duration of antibiotic treatment for prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Streptococcus spp. is largely based on clinical observations and expert opinion rather than empirical studies. Here we assess the impact of a shorter antibiotic duration. OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of antibiotic treatment duration for streptococcal prosthetic valve endocarditis on 12-month mortality as well as subsequent morbidity resulting in additional cardiac surgical interventions, and rates of relapse and reinfection. METHODS: This retrospective multisite (N= 3) study examines two decades of data on patients with streptococcal prosthetic valve endocarditis receiving either 4 or 6 weeks of antibiotics. Overall mortality, relapse, and reinfection rates were also assessed for the entire available follow-up period. RESULTS: The sample includes 121 patients (median age 72 years, IQR [53; 81]). The majority (74%, 89/121) received a ß-lactam antibiotic combined with aminoglycoside in 74% (89/121, median bi-therapy 5 days [1; 14]). Twenty-eight patients underwent surgery guided by ESC-guidelines (23%). The 12-month mortality rate was not significantly affected by antibiotic duration (4/40, 10% in the 4-week group vs 3/81, 3.7% in the 6-week group, p=0.34) or aminoglycoside usage (p=0.1). Similarly, there were no significant differences between the 2 treatment groups for secondary surgical procedures (7/40 vs 21/81, p=0.42), relapse or reinfection (1/40 vs 2/81 and 2/40 vs 5/81 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our study found no increased adverse outcomes associated with a 4-week antibiotic duration compared to the recommended 6-week regimen. Further randomized trials are needed to ascertain the optimal duration of treatment for streptococcal endocarditis.

Continuous solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry determination of pharmaceuticals and hormones in water samples.

A semi-automatic flow-based method for the simultaneous determination of 9 pharmaceuticals and 3 hormones in water samples in a single analytical run is proposed. The analytes were retained on a solid-phase extraction sorbent column and 1 microL of the eluate analysed by gas chromatography in combination with electron impact ionization mass spectrometry in the SIM mode. The sorbent used, Oasis-HLB, provided near-quantitative recovery of all analytes. The proposed method was validated with quite good analytical results including low limits of detection (0.01-0.06 ng L(-1) for 100 mL of water) and good linearity (r2>0.993) throughout the studied concentration ranges. The method provided good accuracy (recoveries of 85-103%) and precision (between- and within-day RSD values less than 7%) in the determination of the pharmaceuticals and hormones in tap, river, pond, well, swimming pool and wastewater.