Infective endocarditis following transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

Trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has recently emerged as a less invasive alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in high risk patients. Although several procedures have been performed worldwide, infective endocarditis (IE) has been reported to be a rare TAVI complication, nevertheless if IE occurs it represents a life-threatening condition and treatment is challenging. TAVI-IE are thus normally treated conservatively by targeted antibiotic therapy with a high reported mortality (40%). Surgical explant represent the definitive strategy but, the intervention is at a high risk (risk of complication 87%, with an in hospital mortality of about 47%). In the present paper, we report the case of a 71-year-old patient affected by an early endocarditis after TAVI (TAVI-IE) treated at our Institution by surgical explant. The case highlights a paradox: if TAVI procedures are indicated over traditional surgical valve replacement in treatment of high surgical risk patients, what should be the best management when TAVI-IE occurs in these same population of patients?

[Infection and TAVI]. / Infection et TAVI.

Since trans-catheter valve implantation (TAVI) has emerged for severe symptomatic aortic stenosis treatment, infective endocarditis (IE) appears as a rare but severe complication. Like surgical aortic valve remplacement infective endocarditis (SAVR-IE), TAVI-IE has a noxious impact on morbidity and mortality. Compared to SAVR-IE, TAVI-IE present some similarities as well as differences. Most TAVI-IE occurred during the first year and enterococcus is the more common pathogen. A multimodality imaging approach including echocardiography, multislice computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography-CT with blood culture is necessary for the diagnosis. In this high-risk population, the vast majority of TAVI-IE patients are treated with antibiotic therapy alone. Consequently to the expanded indication, the increasing number of TAVI-IE will appear more frequently. If initially only few clinical cases of IE were reported, sparse observational multicenter registries have now been published. Relevant differences were noted on these registries, but some recent publications have provided new informations on IE. The present review reports incidence, symptoms, microbiological profil, risk factors and clinicals outcomes of TAVI-IE. Eventually, we describe the management and the treatment of IE in the context of TAVI.