Background: Early surgery for infective endocarditis (IE) with acute heart failure (AHF) is recommended, despite clinical results being unclear. We investigated the effect of initial treatment in such patients.
Methods and results: Outcomes for 470 patients with active IE who underwent valvular surgery during 2009-2016 were reviewed. Of them, 177 had symptomatic AHF when diagnosed with IE (excluding those with cardiogenic shock or intubated for AHF). They were divided into 2 groups based on initial treatment: Group S (underwent valvular surgery immediately; n=74) and Group M (received initial medical treatment for infection and HF; n=103). The median (interquartile range) waiting period from diagnosis to surgery in Groups S and M was 1 (1-3) and 15 (8-33) days, respectively (P<0.001). The 5-year survival rate was higher in Group S than Group M (80% vs. 64%; P=0.108). Group M was divided into Group P (initial medical treatment was effective and elective surgery was performed; n=62) and Group E (emergency surgery was necessary during medical treatment; n=41); overall 5-year survival was significantly worse in Group E than Group P (42% vs. 79%; P<0.012). In Group M, multivariate analysis indicated that Staphylococcus aureus infection (odds ratio 3.82; 95% confidence interval 1.19-13.3; P=0.024) was a significant risk factor for conversion to emergency surgery.
Conclusions: Considering poor outcomes of emergency surgery for medically refractory HF, early surgery may be a reasonable option for IE patients, especially those with S. aureus infection.
Keywords: Conversion to emergent surgery; Heart failure; Infective endocarditis; Staphylococcus aureus.