Multivessel coronary artery disease predicts mortality, length of stay, and pressor requirements after liver transplantation.

The optimal preoperative cardiac evaluation strategy for patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) undergoing liver transplantation remains unknown. Patients are frequently referred for cardiac catheterization, but the effects of coronary artery disease (CAD) on posttransplant mortality are also unknown. We sought to determine the contribution of CAD and multivessel CAD in particular to posttransplant mortality. We performed a retrospective study of ESLD patients undergoing cardiac catheterization before liver transplant surgery between August 1, 2004 and August 1, 2007 to determine the effects of CAD on outcomes after transplantation. Among 83 patients who underwent left heart catheterization, 47 underwent liver transplantation during the follow-up period. Twenty-one of all ESLD patients who underwent liver transplantation (45%) had CAD. Fifteen of the transplant patients with CAD (71%) had multivessel disease. Among transplant patients, the presence of multivessel CAD (versus no CAD) was predictive of mortality (27% versus 4%, P = 0.046), increased length of stay (22 versus 15 days, P = 0.050), and postoperative pressor requirements (27% versus 4%, P = 0.029). Interestingly, neither the presence of any CAD nor the severity of stenosis in any single coronary artery predicted mortality. Furthermore, none of the traditional clinical predictors (age, gender, diabetes, creatinine, ejection fraction, and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score) were predictive of mortality among transplant recipients. In conclusion, multivessel CAD is associated with higher mortality after liver transplantation when it is documented angiographically before transplantation, even in the absence of severe coronary artery stenosis. This study provides preliminary evidence showing that there may be significant prognostic value in coronary angiography as a part of the pretransplant workup.

Infective endocarditis in the elderly: diagnosis and management.

Infective endocarditis is seen with increasing frequency in older patients. This increase is due to the general aging of the population, improved survival of patients with congenital and valvular heart disease, and the increasing use of catheters and other prosthetic devices with resulting higher incidence of nosocomial endocarditis. In older patients, infective endocarditis frequently develops in the absence of underlying structural heart disease; atheromatous deposits and mitral annular calcification are two important risk factors in this population. Infective organisms in older patients are frequently enterococci and other gastrointestinal tract bacteria. A marked febrile response is uncommon whereas central nervous system symptoms are more common in older patients. Transesophageal echocardiography can be performed safely and is a major diagnostic tool with sensitivity of more than 90% in detecting vegetations as small as 2-5 mm. Appropriately drawn blood cultures provide bacteriologic diagnosis in 80%-99% of patients. Prolonged antibiotic therapy may be required in many instances depending on the infective organism. Early surgical therapy is advisable for patients who develop heart failure as a result of severe acute aortic valvular regurgitation. Valve replacement surgery can be performed with acceptable mortality and morbidity even in very elderly patients.

Trans-radial versus trans-femoral access in patients with end-stage liver disease undergoing cardiac catheterization.

Cardiac catheterization has been increasingly utilized to evaluate coronary artery disease in patients with end stage liver disease (ESLD). It is known in other populations that radial access reduces access site complications;however, there is a paucity of data in ESLD patients. We investigated vascular and bleeding complications rates between trans-femoral and trans-radial cardiac catheterizations in this high risk population. In this retrospective cohort study, three hundred and thirty four ESLD patients were identified between August 2004 and December 2012 who had undergone trans-femoral (femoral group) or trans-radial (radial group) cardiac catheterizations at our institution. The radial group was not significantly different from the femoral group in age (p = 0.056), proportions of genders (p = 0.85), and weight (p = 0.19); however, compared to the femoral group, the radial group had significantly lower blood pressure (p < 0.0001), hemoglobin (10.4 ± 1.9 vs 11.1 ± 2.02 g/dL, p = 0.001), and hematocrit (30.3 ± 5.7% vs 32.6 ± 6.0%, p < 0.0006), and had a significantly higher INR (1.94 ± 1.16 vs 1.59 ± 0.62, p = 0.0001). In terms of vascular complications, the radial group had a significantly lower rate of pseudoaneurysms (0% vs 3.7%, p = 0.019) than the femoral group. While there were no bleeding complications in either group or differences in transfusion requirements, there was a significantly lower percentage drop in hematocrit in the radial group compared to the femoral group (5.4% vs 7.8%, p = 0.039). In conclusion, trans-radial catheterization is associated with lower rates of vascular access site complications compared to trans-femoral catheterization.