Forty-Year Trends in Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Infective Endocarditis.

Background: Studies investigating cardiac implantable electronic device infective endocarditis (CIED-IE) epidemiological changes and prognosis over long periods of time are lacking. Methods: Retrospective single cardiovascular surgery center cohort study of definite CIED-IE episodes between 1981-2020. A comparative analysis of two periods (1981-2000 vs 2001-2020) was conducted to analyze changes in epidemiology and outcome over time. Results: One-hundred and thirty-eight CIED-IE episodes were diagnosed: 25 (18%) first period and 113 (82%) second. CIED-IE was 4.5 times more frequent in the second period, especially in implantable cardiac defibrillators. Age (63 [53-70] vs 71 [63-76] years, P < .01), comorbidities (CCI 3.0 [2-4] vs 4.5 [3-6], P > .01), nosocomial infections (4% vs 15.9%, P = .02) and transfers from other centers (8% vs 41.6%, P < .01) were significantly more frequent in the second period, as were methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococcal (MR-CoNS) (0% vs 13.3%, P < .01) and Enterococcus spp. (0% vs 5.3%, P = .01) infections, pulmonary embolism (0% vs 10.6%, P < .01) and heart failure (12% vs 28.3%, p < .01). Second period surgery rates were lower (96% vs 87.6%, P = .09), and there were no differences in in-hospital (20% vs 11.5%, P = .11) and one-year mortalities (24% vs 15%, P = .33), or relapses (8% vs 5.3%, P = 0.65). Multivariate analysis showed Charlson index (hazard ratios [95% confidence intervals]; 1.5 [1.16-1.94]) and septic shock (23.09 [4.57-116.67]) were associated with a worse prognosis, whereas device removal (0.11 [.02-.57]), transfers (0.13 [.02-0.95]), and second-period diagnosis (0.13 [.02-.71]) were associated with better one-year outcomes. Conclusions: CIED-IE episodes increased more than four-fold during last 40 years. Despite CIED-IE involved an older population with more comorbidities, antibiotic-resistant MR-CoNS, and complex devices, one-year survival improved.

Diagnostic Accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in Infective Endocarditis and Implantable Cardiac Electronic Device Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Early diagnosis of infective endocarditis (IE) is based on the yielding of blood cultures and echocardiographic findings. However, they have limitations and sometimes the diagnosis is inconclusive, particularly in patients with prosthetic valves (PVs) and implantable cardiac electronic devices (ICEDs). The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with suspected IE and ICED infection. METHODS: A prospective study with 80 consecutive patients with suspected IE and ICED infection (65 men and 15 women with a mean age of 68 ± 13 y) between June 2013 and May 2015 was performed in our hospital. The inclusion criteria were clinically suspected IE and ICED infection at the following locations: native valve (NV) (n = 21), PV (n = 29), or ICED (n = 30) (automatic implantable defibrillator [n = 11] or pacemaker [n = 19]). Whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT with a myocardial uptake suppression protocol with unfractionated heparin was performed in all patients. The final diagnosis of infection was established by the IE Study Group according to the clinical, echocardiographic, and microbiologic findings. RESULTS: A final diagnosis of infection was confirmed in 31 patients: NV (n = 6), PV (n = 12), and ICED (n = 13). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for 18F-FDG PET/CT were 82%, 96%, 94%, and 87%, respectively. 18F-FDG PET/CT was false-negative in all cases with infected NV. 18F-FDG PET/CT was able to reclassify 63 of 70 (90%) patients initially classified as possible IE by modified Duke criteria. In 18 of 70 cases, 18F-FDG PET/CT changed possible to definite IE (26%) and in 45 of 70 cases changed possible to rejected IE (64%). Additionally, 18F-FDG PET/CT identified 8 cases of septic embolism and 3 of colorectal cancer in patients with a final diagnosis of IE. CONCLUSION: 18F-FDG PET/CT proved to be a useful diagnostic tool in suspected IE and ICED infection and should be included in the diagnostic algorithm for early diagnosis. 18F-FDG PET/CT is not useful in the diagnosis of IE in NV but should be also considered in the initial assessment of this complex scenario to rule out extracardiac complications and possible neoplasms.

Echocardiographic agreement in the diagnostic evaluation for infective endocarditis.

Echocardiography is essential for the diagnosis and management of infective endocarditis (IE). However, the reproducibility for the echocardiographic assessment of variables relevant to IE is unknown. Objectives of this study were: (1) To define the reproducibility for IE echocardiographic variables and (2) to describe a methodology for assessing quality in an observational cohort containing site-interpreted data. IE reproducibility was assessed on a subset of echocardiograms from subjects enrolled in the International Collaboration on Endocarditis registry. Specific echocardiographic case report forms were used. Intra-observer agreement was assessed from six site readers on ten randomly selected echocardiograms. Inter-observer agreement between sites and an echocardiography core laboratory was assessed on a separate random sample of 110 echocardiograms. Agreement was determined using intraclass correlation (ICC), coverage probability (CP), and limits of agreement for continuous variables and kappa statistics (κweighted) and CP for categorical variables. Intra-observer agreement for LVEF was excellent [ICC = 0.93 ± 0.1 and all pairwise differences for LVEF (CP) were within 10 %]. For IE categorical echocardiographic variables, intra-observer agreement was best for aortic abscess (κweighted = 1.0, CP = 1.0 for all readers). Highest inter-observer agreement for IE categorical echocardiographic variables was obtained for vegetation location (κweighted = 0.95; 95 % CI 0.92-0.99) and lowest agreement was found for vegetation mobility (κweighted = 0.69; 95 % CI 0.62-0.86). Moderate to excellent intra- and inter-observer agreement is observed for echocardiographic variables in the diagnostic assessment of IE. A pragmatic approach for determining echocardiographic data reproducibility in a large, multicentre, site interpreted observational cohort is feasible.

Echocardiographic Findings Predict In-Hospital and 1-Year Mortality in Left-Sided Native Valve Staphylococcus aureus Endocarditis: Analysis From the International Collaboration on Endocarditis-Prospective Echo Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus left-sided native valve infective endocarditis (LNVIE) has higher complication and mortality rates compared with endocarditis from other pathogens. Whether echocardiographic variables can predict prognosis in S aureus LNVIE is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Consecutive patients with LNVIE, enrolled between January 2000 and September 2006, in the International Collaboration on Endocarditis were identified. Subjects without S aureus IE were matched to those with S aureus IE by the propensity of having S aureus. Survival differences were determined using log-rank significance tests. Independent echocardiographic predictors of mortality were identified using Cox-proportional hazards models that included inverse probability of treatment weighting and surgery as a time-dependent covariate. Of 727 subjects with LNVIE and 1-year follow-up, 202 had S aureus IE. One-year survival rates were significantly lower for patients with S aureus IE overall (57% S aureus IE versus 80% non-S aureus IE; P<0.001) and in the propensity-matched cohort (59% S aureus IE versus 68% non-S aureus IE; P<0.05). Intracardiac abscess (hazard ratio, 2.93; 95% confidence interval, 1.52-5.40; P<0.001) and left ventricular ejection fraction <40% (odds ratio, 3.01; 95% confidence interval, 1.35-6.04; P=0.004) were the only independent echocardiographic predictors of in-hospital mortality in S aureus LNVIE. Valve perforation (hazard ratio, 2.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-3.68; P=0.006) and intracardiac abscess (hazard ratio, 2.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.26-3.78; P=0.004) were the only independent predictors of 1-year mortality. CONCLUSIONS: S aureus is an independent predictor of 1-year mortality in subjects with LNVIE. In S aureus LNVIE, intracardiac abscess and left ventricular ejection fraction <40% independently predicted in-hospital mortality and intracardiac abscess and valve perforation independently predicted 1-year mortality.

Contemporary clinical profile and outcome of prosthetic valve endocarditis.

CONTEXT: Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is associated with significant mortality and morbidity. The contemporary clinical profile and outcome of PVE are not well defined. OBJECTIVES: To describe the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and outcome of PVE, with attention to health care-associated infection, and to determine prognostic factors associated with in-hospital mortality. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Prospective, observational cohort study conducted at 61 medical centers in 28 countries, including 556 patients with definite PVE as defined by Duke University diagnostic criteria who were enrolled in the International Collaboration on Endocarditis-Prospective Cohort Study from June 2000 to August 2005. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: In-hospital mortality. RESULTS: Definite PVE was present in 556 (20.1%) of 2670 patients with infective endocarditis. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common causative organism (128 patients [23.0%]), followed by coagulase-negative staphylococci (94 patients [16.9%]). Health care-associated PVE was present in 203 (36.5%) of the overall cohort. Seventy-one percent of health care-associated PVE occurred within the first year of valve implantation, and the majority of cases were diagnosed after the early (60-day) period. Surgery was performed in 272 (48.9%) patients during the index hospitalization. In-hospital death occurred in 127 (22.8%) patients and was predicted by older age, health care-associated infection (62/203 [30.5%]; adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-2.44; P = .02), S aureus infection (44/128 [34.4%]; adjusted OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.01-2.95; P = .05), and complications of PVE, including heart failure (60/183 [32.8%]; adjusted OR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.62-3.34; P<.001), stroke (34/101 [33.7%]; adjusted OR, 2.25; 95% CI, 1.25-4.03; P = .007), intracardiac abscess (47/144 [32.6%]; adjusted OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.10-3.15; P = .02), and persistent bacteremia (27/49 [55.1%]; adjusted OR, 4.29; 95% CI, 1.99-9.22; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Prosthetic valve endocarditis accounts for a high percentage of all cases of infective endocarditis in many regions of the world. Staphylococcus aureus is now the leading cause of PVE. Health care-associated infection significantly influences the clinical characteristics and outcome of PVE. Complications of PVE strongly predict in-hospital mortality, which remains high despite prompt diagnosis and the frequent use of surgical intervention.

Complications of native and prosthetic valve infective endocarditis: update in 2006.

Infective endocarditis is a rare disease associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In the past decades, there have been significant improvements in the management of infective endocarditis. Complications are frequent and include heart failure, embolic episodes, periannular complications, and central nervous system events. Surgical therapy has been fundamental in the reduction of mortality in complicated cases. This paper is an overview of the main complications of native and prosthetic infective endocarditis and its treatment.

¿Es útil la determinación de daño miocárdico en la ecocardiografía de estrés con dobutamina para el diagnóstico y pronóstico de la cardiopatía isquémica? / Can be useful to assess whether dobutamine echocardiography can induce myocardial damage for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in coronary artery disease?

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Trombosis intracardíaca y síndrome antifosfolípido primario. Un caso familiar / Primary Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Intracardiac Thrombosis. A Family Case Report

El síndrome antifosfolípido es una entidad clínica poco frecuente que se manifiesta por fenómenos trombóticos de repetición en pacientes jóvenes sin factores de riesgo cardiovascular. Sus formas de presentación son múltiples, pero las más frecuentes son las pérdidas fetales de repetición y el accidente cerebrovascular. La afección cardíaca es menos frecuente. Describimos un caso familiar que se ha presentado con trombosis intracardíaca y embolia cerebral secundaria (AU)

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A Case of Uterine Leiomyomatosis Extending into the Right Heart with an Unusual Echocardiographic Appearance.

Intravenous extension of uterine leiomyomatosis is a rare condition characterized by tumor invasion of the venous system and propagation toward the large abdominal veins. A few cases with extension to the right atrium have been reported, and the echocardiographic appearance of this entity is well described. The case we herein report is of interest because of its unusual echocardiographic findings.