Infective endocarditis.

BACKGROUND

Infective endocarditis continues to pose a therapeutic challenge to treating clinicians. We believe that the successful management of endocarditis mandates a thorough understanding of the risk factors for adverse outcomes and a co-ordinated team approach.

METHODS

Between the years 2000 and 2009, 85 patients required surgery for infective endocarditis, with a total of 112 infected valves being treated surgically. Data was analysed to determine factors significantly associated with morbidity and mortality.

RESULTS

The mean age was 50.5 years. Nine (10.5%) of these patients had Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis, the remaining 76 (89.5%) had Native Valve Endocarditis. Twenty-nine percent of patients were NYHA 4 pre-operatively, 15% of patients were haemodynamically unstable requiring inotropic support, 34% were persistently febrile despite antibiotic therapy, and 48% had suffered any embolic event, 20% suffered cerebral emboli. The commonest causative organism in our series was Staphylococcus Aureus (54.1%) with 2.3% of cases being due to MRSA. The second commonest organism isolated was Streptococcus spp. at 21.1%. Operative mortality was 12.9%, of which on-table mortality was 2.2%. Mean follow-up was 56 months (range 1-151). Early recurrence rates (<3 months) were 2.3%. Late recurrence was 7.0%. The pre-operative factors associated with increased mortality were age over 65, inotropic requirement, uncontrolled sepsis and cerebral emboli. We summarise our experience and recommendations for a team approach to the management of infective endocarditis.