Infectious complications following major heart surgery from the day of the surgery to hospital discharge.

BACKGROUND: At some point in their lives, many people will require major heart surgery (MHS). Patients are generally older adults with various risk factors for infection. However, the incidence of infection after MHS is poorly known, as reported infection data are frequently biased due to different factors like the surgical procedure, postoperative timing, and infectious syndromes or etiologic agents, among others. In addition, most patient data are retrospectively obtained. PURPOSE AND METHODS: Data were prospectively collected regarding the incidence of all nosocomial infections produced from the time of surgery to hospital discharge in a cohort of 800 adults consecutively undergoing a MHS procedure. RESULTS: During postoperative hospitalization, 124 of the 800 participants developed one or more infections (15.5%): during their ICU stay in 68 patients (54.8%), during their stay on the general ward post ICU in 50 (40.3%), and during their stay in both wards in 6 (4.8%). The most common infections were pneumonia (related or not to mechanical ventilation), surgical site and bloodstream. As etiological agents, 193 pathogens were isolated: mostly Gram-negative bacilli (54.4%), followed by Gram-positive bacteria (30%), viruses (4.6%) and fungi (1.5%). In our cohort, all-cause mortality was recorded in 33 participants (4.1%) and 9 infection-related deaths (1.1%) were produced. Among subjects who developed infections, overall mortality was 13.7% and in those who did not, this was only 2.3%. CONCLUSION: Infection following MHS remains frequent and severe. Our data suggest that hospital-acquired infection studies should consider episodes of infection in all populations during their entire hospital stay and not only those related to specific clinical syndromes or acquired while the patient is in intensive care.

Percutaneous Closure of Mitral Paravalvular Leaks Generating Refractory Heart Failure in the Immediate Postoperative Period.

We present two patients with refractory heart failure due to mitral paravalvular leak (PVL) in whom percutaneous PVL closure was performed in the immediate postoperative period.

Periannular extension of infective endocarditis.

OBJECTIVES: This prospective study was designed to assess the current clinical course, risk factors, microbiologic profile and echocardiographic findings of patients with left-sided endocarditis and perivalvular complications. BACKGROUND: Periannular complications worsen the prognosis of patients with endocarditis. The relation between these complications and the clinical and microbiologic data has not been clearly defined. METHODS: In this clinical cohort study, 211 patients with left-sided endocarditis, according to the Duke criteria, were prospectively recruited. All patients underwent conventional and transesophageal echocardiography. The mean follow-up interval was 151 days. RESULTS: Perivalvular complications were detected in 78 patients (37%). The incidence of periannular extension of infection in native and prosthetic valves was 29% and 55%, respectively. The presence of prosthesis (relative risk [RR] 1.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.35 to 2.64) and previous endocarditis (RR 1.78, 95% CI 1.16 to 2.7) were the only pre-existing heart conditions associated with perivalvular complications. Aortic infection (RR 1.8, 95% CI 1.23 to 2.66) and the development of atrioventricular (AV) block (RR 2.55, 95% CI 1.91 to 3.41) were related with the existence of these complications. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were very common in patients with perivalvular complications (RR 1.77, 95% CI 1.21 to 2.59), and small vegetations were more frequent in these patients (RR l.45, 95% CI 0.95 to 2.22). An operation was more frequently performed in patients with perivalvular complications, but mortality was similar in patients with and without these complications. CONCLUSIONS: Aortic infection, prosthetic endocarditis, new AV block and coagulase-negative staphylococci were independent risk factors of periannular complications. The period between symptom onset and diagnosis, the incidence of pericardial effusion and persistent signs of infection were similar between patients with and without perivalvular complications. Patients with perivalvular complications did not demonstrate a difference in the presence or size of vegetations or the frequency of embolism. An operation was more frequently performed in these patients, but mortality was similar in both groups.