Characteristics and outcome of acute heart failure in infective endocarditis: focus on cardiogenic shock

Perioperative Complications in Infective Endocarditis

Infective endocarditis is a challenging condition to manage, requiring collaboration among various medical professionals. Interdisciplinary teamwork within endocarditis teams is essential. About half of the patients diagnosed with the disease will ultimately have to undergo cardiac surgery. As a result, it is vital for all healthcare providers involved in the perioperative period to have a comprehensive understanding of the unique features of infective endocarditis, including clinical presentation, echocardiographic signs, coagulopathy, bleeding control, and treatment of possible organ dysfunction. This narrative review provides a summary of the current knowledge on the incidence of complications and their management in the perioperative period in patients with infective endocarditis.

Outcomes of Cardiac Arrest with Valve Surgery Among Infective Endocarditis Patients: A United States National Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE

Cardiac arrest can complicate infective endocarditis (IE) and is associated with significant in-hospital complications and mortality rates. We report the characteristics, outcomes, and readmission rates for IE patients with cardiac arrest in the United States.

METHODS

We surveyed the Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD), a database designed to support national level readmission analyses, for patients admitted with IE and who had cardiac arrest during index admission between 2016 and 2019. Baseline demographics, comorbidities, surgical procedures, and outcomes were identified using their respective International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes.

RESULTS

There were 663 index admissions (mean age 55.87 ± 17.21 years;34.2 % females) for IE with cardiac arrest in the study period, with an overall mortality rate of 55.3 %. Of these, 270 (40.7 %) had surgical procedures performed during the hospitalization encounter. In patients who had a surgical procedure, 72 (26.8 %) patients had in-hospital mortality while 293 (74.9 %) patients without surgical procedures had in-hospital mortality (p < 0.001). After coarsened matching for baseline characteristics, surgical valve procedures were less likely to be associated with mortality (OR = 0.09, 95%CI 0.04-0.24; p < 0.001). Among the 295 alive discharges associated with cardiac arrest, 76 (38.57 %) were readmitted within 30-days, with a mortality rate of 22 % noted for readmissions.

CONCLUSION

Among IE patients who had cardiac arrest, surgical procedures subgroup had low mortality despite having higher complication rates. However, due to chances of bias more randomized trials are needed evaluate the hypothesis.

Contemporary Review of Multi-Modality Cardiac Imaging Evaluation of Infective Endocarditis

Infective endocarditis (IE) remains to be a heterogeneous disease with high morbidity and mortality rates, which can affect native valves, prosthetic valves, and intra-cardiac devices, in addition to causing systemic complications. The combination of clinical, laboratory, and cardiac imaging evaluation is critical for early diagnosis and risk stratification of IE. This can facilitate timely medical and surgical management to improve patient outcomes. Key imaging findings for IE include vegetations, valve perforation, prosthetic valve dehiscence, pseudoaneurysms, abscesses, and fistulae. Transthoracic echocardiography continues to be the first-line imaging modality of choice, while transesophageal echocardiography subsequently provides an improved structural assessment and characterization of lesions to facilitate management decision in IE. Recent advances in other imaging modalities, especially cardiac computed tomography and 18F-fluorodeox-yglucose positron emission tomography, and to a lesser extent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and other nuclear imaging techniques, have demonstrated important roles in providing complementary IE diagnostic and prognostic information. This review aims to discuss the individual and integrated utilities of contemporary multi-modality cardiac imaging for the assessment and treatment guidance of IE.

Differences in the Clinical Outcome of Ischemic and Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy in Heart Failure With Concomitant Opioid Use Disorder

Heart Failure (HF) and Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) independently have significant impact on patients and the United States (US) health system. In the setting of the opioid epidemic, research on the effects of OUD on cardiovascular diseases is rapidly evolving. However, no study exists on differential outcomes of ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) and nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) in patients with HF with OUD. We performed a retrospective, observational cohort study using National Inpatient Sample (NIS) 2018-2020 databases. Patients aged 18 years and above with diagnoses of HF with concomitant OUD were included. Patients were further classified into ICM and NICM. Primary outcome of interest was differences in all- cause in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcome was incidence of cardiogenic shock. We identified 99,810 hospitalizations that met inclusion criteria, ICM accounted for 27%. Mean age for ICM was higher compared to NICM (63 years vs 56 years, P < 0.01). Compared to NICM, patients with ICM had higher cardiovascular disease risk factors and comorbidities; type 2 diabetes mellitus (46.3 % vs 30.1%, P < 0.01), atrial fibrillation/flutter (33.5% vs 29.9%, P < 0.01), hyperlipidemia (52.5% vs 28.9%, P < 0.01), and Charlson comorbidity index ≥5 was 46.7% versus 29.7%, P < 0.01. After controlling for covariates and potential confounders, we observed higher odds of all-cause in-hospital mortality in patients with NICM (aOR = 1.36; 95% CI:1.03-1.78, P = 0.02). There was no statistical significant difference in incidence of cardiogenic shock between ICM and NICM (aOR = 0.86;95% CI 0.70-1.07, P = 0.18). In patients with HF with concomitant OUD, we found a 36% increase in odds of all-cause in-hospital mortality in patients with NICM compared to ICM despite being younger in age with less comorbidities. There was no difference in odds of in-hospital cardiogenic shock in this study population. This study contributes to the discussion of OUD and cardiovascular diseases which is rapidly developing and requires further prospective studies.

Native valve, prosthetic valve, and cardiac device-related infective endocarditis: A review and update on current innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a life-threatening microbial infection of native and prosthetic heart valves, endocardial surface, and/or indwelling cardiac device. Prevalence of IE is increasing and mortality has not significantly improved despite technological advances. This review provides an updated overview using recent literature on the clinical presentation, diagnosis, imaging, causative pathogens, treatment, and outcomes in native valve, prosthetic valve, and cardiac device-related IE. In addition, the experimental approaches used in IE research to improve the understanding of disease mechanisms and the current diagnostic pipelines are discussed, as well as potential innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. This will ultimately help towards deriving better diagnostic tools and treatments to improve IE patient outcomes.

Five-Year Cardiovascular Outcomes after Infective Endocarditis in Patients with versus without Drug Use History

Background: Disparities in treatment and outcomes of infective endocarditis (IE) between people who use drugs (PWUD) and non-PWUD have been reported, but long-term data on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular outcomes are limited. We aim to compare 5-year rates of mortality, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events after IE between PWUD and non-PWUD. Methods: Using data from the TriNetX Research Network, we examined 5-year cumulative incidence of mortality, myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation/flutter, ventricular tachyarrhythmias, ischemic stroke, and intracranial hemorrhage in 7132 PWUD and 7132 propensity score-matched non-PWUD patients after a first episode of IE. We used the Kaplan−Meier estimate for incidence and Cox proportional hazards models to estimate relative risk. Results: Matched PWUD were 41 ± 12 years old; 52.2% men; 70.4% White, 19.8% Black, and 8.0% Hispanic. PWUD had higher mortality vs. non-PWUD after 1 year (1−3 year: 9.2% vs. 7.5%, p = 0.032; and 3−5-year: 7.3% vs. 5.1%, p = 0.020), which was largely driven by higher mortality among female patients. PWUD also had higher rates of myocardial infarction (10.0% vs. 7.0%, p < 0.001), heart failure (19.3% vs. 15.2%, p = 0.002), ischemic stroke (8.3% vs. 6.3%, p = 0.001), and intracranial hemorrhage (4.1% vs. 2.8%, p = 0.009) compared to non-PWUD. Among surgically treated PWUD, interventions on the tricuspid valve were more common; however, rates of all outcomes were comparable to non-PWUD. Conclusions: PWUD had higher 5-year incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events after IE compared to non-PWUD patients. Prospective investigation into the causes of these disparities and potential harm reduction efforts are needed.

Characteristics, management, and outcomes of patients with left-sided infective endocarditis complicated by heart failure: A substudy of the ESC-EORP EURO-ENDO (European infective endocarditis) registry

AIMS

To evaluate the current management and survival of patients with left-sided infective endocarditis (IE) complicated by congestive heart failure (CHF) in the ESC-EORP European Endocarditis (EURO-ENDO) registry.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Among the 3116 patients enrolled in this prospective registry, 2449 (mean age:60 years, 69% male) with left-sided (native or prosthetic) IE were included in this study. Patients with CHF (n=698, 28.5%) were older, with more comorbidity and more severe valvular damage (mitro-aortic involvement, vegetations>10mm and severe regurgitation/new prosthesis dehiscence) than those without CHF (all p≤0.019). Patients with CHF experienced higher 30-day and one-year mortality than those without (20.5% vs. 9.0% and 36.1% vs. 19.3%, respectively) and CHF remained strongly associated with 30-day(OR95%CI=2.37[1.73-3.24];p<0.001) and one-year mortality(HR95%CI=1.69[1.40-2.05];p<0.001) after adjustment for established outcome predictors, including early surgery, or after propensity matching for age, sex, and comorbidity(n=618[88.5%] for each group, both p<0.001). Early surgery, performed on 49% of these patients with IE complicated by CHF, remained associated with a substantial reduction in 30-day mortality following multivariable analysis, after adjustment for age, sex, Charlson index, cerebrovascular accident, staphylococcus aureus IE, Streptococcal IE, uncontrolled infection, vegetation size>10mm, severe valvular regurgitation and/or new prosthetic dehiscence, perivalvular complication, and prosthetic IE(OR95%CI=0.22[0.12-0.38];p<0.001) and in one-year mortality(HR95%CI=0.29[0.20-0.41];p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

CHF is common in left-sided IE and is associated with older age, greater comorbidity, more advanced lesions, and markedly higher 30-day and one-year mortality. Early surgery is strongly associated with lower mortality but is performed on only approximately half of patients with CHF, mainly because of a surgical risk considered prohibitive.

Infective Endocarditis: New Challenges in a Classic Disease

Infective endocarditis is a relatively rare, but deadly infection, with an overall mortality of around 20% in most series. Clinical manifestations have evolved in response to significant epidemiological shifts in industrialized nations, with a move toward a nosocomial or health-care-related pattern, in older patients, with more episodes associated with prostheses and/or intravascular electronic devices and a predominance of staphylococcal and enterococcal etiology.Diagnosis is often challenging and is based on the conjunction of clinical, microbiological, and imaging information, with notable progress in recent years in the accuracy of echocardiographic data, coupled with the recent emergence of other useful imaging techniques such as cardiac computed tomography (CT) and nuclear medicine tools, particularly ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission/CT.The choice of an appropriate treatment for each specific case is complex, both in terms of the selection of the appropriate agent and doses and durations of therapy as well as the possibility of using combined bactericidal antibiotic regimens in the initial phase and finalizing treatment at home in patients with good evolution with outpatient oral or parenteral antimicrobial therapies programs. A relevant proportion of patients will also require valve surgery during the active phase of treatment, the timing of which is extremely difficult to define. For all the above, the management of infective endocarditis requires a close collaboration of multidisciplinary endocarditis teams.

Anesthesia Considerations in Infective Endocarditis

The management of infective endocarditis is complex and inherently requires multidisciplinary cooperation. About half of all patients diagnosed with infective endocarditis will meet the criteria to undergo cardiac surgery, which regularly takes place in urgent or emergency settings. The pathophysiology and clinical presentation of infective endocarditis make it a unique disorder within cardiac surgery that warrants a thorough understanding of specific characteristics in the perioperative period. This includes, among others, echocardiography, coagulation, bleeding management, or treatment of organ dysfunction. In this narrative review article, the authors summarize the current knowledge on infective endocarditis relevant for the clinical anesthesiologist in perioperative management of respective patients. Furthermore, the authors advocate for the anesthesiologist to become a structural member of the endocarditis team.

Predictors of Complications Secondary to Infective Endocarditis and Their Associated Outcomes: A Large Cohort Study from the National Emergency Database (2016-2018)

Introduction

Literature regarding outcomes and predictors of complications secondary to infective endocarditis (IE) is limited. We aimed to study the outcomes and predictors of complications of IE.

Methods

Data from a national emergency department sample, which constitutes 20% sample of hospital-owned emergency departments in the USA, were analyzed for hospital visits for IE. Complications of endocarditis were obtained by using ICD codes. Multivariable generalized linear method was used to evaluate predictors of in-hospital mortality and complications.

Results

Out of 255,838 adult IE patients (mean age 60.3 ± 20.1 years, 48.5% females), 97,803 (38.2%) patients developed one or more major complications. The major complications were cardiovascular system complications [57,900 (22.6%)], neurologic [42,851 (16.7%)] complications, and renal [16,236 (6.4%)] complications. These included cardiogenic shock [3873 (1.5%)], septic shock [25,798 (10.1%)], acute heart failure [35,602 (14%)], systemic thromboembolism (STE) [21,390 (8.36%)], heart block [11,430 (4.47%)], in-hospital dialysis [2880 (1.1%)], and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) [2704 (1.1%)]. Patients with complicated IE had risk of mortality (adjusted RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.11–1.13, p < 0.001). The complications strongly associated with mortality were septic shock (RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.27–1.30, p < 0.001), cardiogenic shock (RR 1.24, 95% CI 1.20–1.29, p < 0.001), DIC (RR 1.4, 95% CI 1.35–1.46, p < 0.001), and STE (RR 1.07, 95% CI 1.05–1.08, p < 0.001). Staphylococci were the predominant causative organisms (30.8%) among the complicated IE subgroups with higher associated mortality (42.8%). The main predictors of complications from IE were congenital heart disease, history of congestive heart failure, high Elixhauser comorbidity profile, staphylococcal infection, and fungal infections. The prevalence of cardiogenic shock increased over the study years from 1.13 to 1.98% (p-trend 0.04).

Conclusion

Complicated IE is not uncommon and is associated with significant mortality. Staphylococcal infections were associated with high mortality rates. There has been an increasing trend of cardiogenic shock among IE patients across the US. Further research is needed to improve the outcomes of complicated endocarditis.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40121-021-00563-y.