Early or late surgery for endocarditis with neurological complications.

BACKGROUND: The European Society of Cardiology 2015 guidelines advise urgent surgery for endocarditis complicated by cerebral embolism or transient ischemic events (1B evidence). Nevertheless, the timing of surgery remains contentious. This study aimed to review our experience of early versus delayed surgery in a selected cohort. METHODS: Our surgical database was examined for patients with a discharge diagnosis of endocarditis from 2005 to 2011. Selection was limited to patients who fulfilled the Duke criteria and underwent brain imaging for a clinically diagnosed preoperative neurological event. Patients were categorized as early surgery (≤7 days of clinical or cerebral imaging diagnosis of stroke) or delayed surgery (>7 days after diagnosis). RESULTS: Thirty-nine patients were identified: 20 in the early group (mean age 52 ± 15 years, diagnosis-to-surgery time 4 ± 2 days) and 19 in the delayed group (mean age 45 ± 15 years, diagnosis-to-surgery time 17 ± 11 days). There were no statistical differences in preoperative risks, operative data (cardiopulmonary bypass and crossclamp times) or postoperative neurological and mortality outcomes between the 2 groups. The size of the cerebral lesion was not a significant predictor of postoperative hemorrhagic or neurological outcome. Multivariate analysis did not show any independent predictor of mortality during follow-up (mean 51 ± 27 months). There was no difference in long-term survival, freedom from reoperation, or recurrent endocarditis between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed no statistical excess of mortality or neurological outcomes after early surgical intervention, regardless of the preoperative cerebral lesion size.

Medtronic Mosaic porcine bioprosthesis: assessment of 12-year performance.

BACKGROUND: The Mosaic porcine bioprosthesis (Medtronic, Inc, Minneapolis, Minn) was approved in 2000 by the US Food and Drug Administration. Clinical performance was evaluated in 6 centers. METHODS: From 1994 to 2000, 797 patients (mean age 69 years) had aortic valve replacement (AVR) and 232 (mean 67 years) had mitral valve replacement (MVR). Concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting was performed with aortic valve replacement (45.4%) and mitral valve replacement (43.5%). Mean follow-ups were 7.5 years for aortic position and 7.3 years for mitral position. RESULTS: Early mortalities were 2.8% for AVR and 3.0% for MVR. Late mortalities were 4.2%/patient-year for AVR and 5.1%/patient-year for MVR. Overall 12-year survivals were 55.8% ± 3.7% for AVR and 43.9% ± 7.4% for MVR. Twelve-year freedoms from valve-related mortality were 87.1% ± 3.1% for AVR and 82.5% ± 7.7% for MVR. Twelve-year freedoms from reoperation were 84.0% ± 3.3% for AVR and 82.5% ± 7.5% for MVR. Freedoms from structural valve deterioration (SVD) by explant reoperation at 12 years for AVR were 93.3% ± 2.6% for patients at least 60 years old and 75.9% ± 9.3% for patients younger than 60 years. Freedoms from SVD by explant reoperation at 10 years for MVR were 95.3% ± 7.8% for patients at least 70 years old and 84.0% ± 9.3% for patients younger than 70 years. Hemodynamic performance data at 1 year for AVR (sizes 21-27 mm) were mean systolic gradient range 13.7 ± 4.8 to 10.3 ± 3.2 mm Hg and effective orifice area range 1.5 ± 0.3 to 2.5 ± 0.4 cm(2). For MVR (sizes 25-31 mm), data were mean diastolic gradient range 6.7 ± 1.7 to 3.7 ± 0.9 mm Hg and effective orifice area range 1.9 ± 0.3 to 2.4 ± 0.6 cm(2). CONCLUSIONS: Overall performance of Mosaic porcine bioprosthesis to 12 years is satisfactory. Freedoms from SVD by explant reoperation were most satisfactory for aortic position in patients at least 60 years old and mitral position in patients at least 70 years old. Overall actuarial freedom from SVD by explant reoperation is encouraging for patients with MVR.

Bivalirudin versus heparin and protamine in off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery.

BACKGROUND: Bivalirudin is a short-acting direct thrombin inhibitor, with advantages over unfractionated heparin for anticoagulation in cardiac surgery. We hypothesized that bivalirudin is not associated with a clinically important increase in blood loss compared with heparin with protamine reversal in patients undergoing off pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery. We also assessed flow with angiography at 3 months using a modified Thombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) grade in the grafted coronary arteries. METHODS: One hundred patients were randomly assigned to receive bivalirudin (0.75 mg/kg bolus, 1.75 mg/kg/h infusion) or heparin (150 to 300 U/kg bolus) with protamine reversal. RESULTS: A median of 3 (range, 1 to 5) grafts were inserted per patient. Blood loss for the 12 hours after study drug initiation in the bivalirudin group (median, 793 mL; interquartile range, 532 to 1,214 mL; range, 320 to 4,909 mL; n = 50) was not significantly greater than in the heparin group (median, 805 mL; interquartile range, 517 to 1,117 mL; range, 201 to 2,567 mL; n = 50; p = 0.165). Median graft flow was 3.0 in the bivalirudin group (n = 40) and 2.67 in the heparin group (n = 39; p = 0.047). The bivalirudin group had more patients with grade 3 (ie, full) flow in at least 1 graft (100% versus 90%; p = 0.04), a trend toward more patients with grade 3 flow in all grafts (60% versus 38%; p = 0.06), and more grafts with grade 3 flow (82% versus 67%; p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Anticoagulation for OPCAB surgery with bivalirudin was feasible without a clinically important increase in perioperative blood loss. Graft flow was better in the bivalirudin patients; the impact of this on clinical outcomes requires a larger study.