ABSTRACT
Objective To report the outcome of surgical treatment of prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE). Methods From 1990 to Aug 2003, 21 patients with PVE were operated on, including 5 acute PVE and 16 subacute PVE. Blood culture was positive in 13 cases. Echocardiographic findings showed aortic and mitral valve leakage in 6 and 3 cases respectively. Aortic and mitral vegetation was found in 3 and 5 cases, respectively. Mechanical valve was used to replace mitral valve in 11 cases, aortic valve in 10 cases. Ascending aortic false aneurysm was resected, and ascending aorta repaired in one case. Vegetations were found in all cases, mitral annulus abscess in 7 cases and myocardial abscess in 3, aortic annulus abscess in 8 and myocardial abscess in 4. Results There were 5 early-death, 3 due to recurrence of infection, 2 due to multiorgans failure. One late death was due to fungus infection. The survivors were followed up from 4 months to 13 years, one case had recurrence of PVE and died after ineffective medical treatment. Conclusion Early diagnosis of PVE, optimal timing of surgery, radical debridement of infected tissue, and utilizing sensitive and high dose of antibiotics perioperatively, are the key factors to improve the surgical outcome.