Aims The EURO-ENDO registry aimed to study the management and outcomes of patients with infective endocarditis (IE). Methods and results Prospective cohort of 3116 adult patients (2470 from Europe, 646 from non-ESC countries), admitted to 156 hospitals in 40 countries between January 2016 and March 2018 with a diagnosis of IE based on ESC 2015 diagnostic criteria. Clinical, biological, microbiological, and imaging [echocardiography, computed tomography (CT) scan, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT)] data were collected. Infective endocarditis was native (NVE) in 1764 (56.6%) patients, prosthetic (PVIE) in 939 (30.1%), and device-related (CDRIE) in 308 (9.9%). Infective endocarditis was community-acquired in 2046 (65.66%) patients. Microorganisms involved were staphylococci in 1085 (44.1%) patients, oral streptococci in 304 (12.3%), enterococci in 390 (15.8%), and Streptococcus gallolyticus in 162 (6.6%). 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography was performed in 518 (16.6%) patients and presented with cardiac uptake (major criterion) in 222 (42.9%) patients, with a better sensitivity in PVIE (66.8%) than in NVE (28.0%) and CDRIE (16.3%). Embolic events occurred in 20.6% of patients, and were significantly associated with tricuspid or pulmonary IE, presence of a vegetation and Staphylococcus aureus IE. According to ESC guidelines, cardiac surgery was indicated in 2160 (69.3%) patients, but finally performed in only 1596 (73.9%) of them. In-hospital death occurred in 532 (17.1%) patients and was more frequent in PVIE. Independent predictors of mortality were Charlson index, creatinine > 2 mg/dL, congestive heart failure, vegetation length > 10 mm, cerebral complications, abscess, and failure to undertake surgery when indicated. Conclusion Infective endocarditis is still a life-threatening disease with frequent lethal outcome despite profound changes in its clinical, microbiological, imaging, and therapeutic profiles.

The indexed effective orifice area of the sutureless group was significantly larger than in the sutured one. The incidence of PPM with the conventional sutured biprosthesis was 61.3%, while it decreases to 0% in the sutureless group. No PPM was reported in the sutureless valve group. Therefore, the Perceval sutureless valve provides larger effective orifice areas compared to the sutured conventional bioprosthesis and could be considered as a good option to reduce the risk of a PPM.

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Tricuspid valve disease affects millions of patients worldwide. It has always been considered less relevant than the left-side valves of the heart, but this “forgotten valve” still represents a great challenge for the cardiac surgeons, especially in the most difficult symptomatic scenarios. In this review we analyze the wide spectrum of surgical techniques for the treatment of a diseased tricuspid valve.

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OBJECTIVES The EuroSCORE II is widely used to predict 30-day mortality in patients undergoing open and transcatheter cardiac surgery. The aim of this study is to evaluate the discriminatory ability of the EuroSCORE II in predicting 30-day mortality in a large cohort of patients undergoing surgical mitral valve repair in a high-volume centre. METHODS A retrospective review of our institutional database was carried on to find all patients who underwent mitral valve repair in our department from January 2012 to December 2019. Discrimination of the EuroSCORE II was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves. The maximum Youden’s Index was employed to define the optimal cut-point. Calibration was assessed by generating calibration plot that visually compares the predicted mortality with the observed mortality. Calibration was also tested with the Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test. Finally, the accuracy of the models was tested calculating the Brier score. RESULTS A total of 2645 patients were identified, and the median EuroSCORE II was 1.3% (0.6–2.0%). In patients with degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR), the EuroSCORE II showed low discrimination (area under the curve 0.68), low accuracy (Brier score 0.27) and low calibration with overestimation of the 30-day mortality. In patients with secondary MR, the EuroSCORE II showed a good overall performance estimating the 30-day mortality with good discrimination (area under the curve 0.88), good accuracy (Brier score 0.003) and good calibration. CONCLUSIONS In patients with degenerative MR operated on in a high-volume centre with a high level of expertise in mitral valve repair, the EuroSCORE II significantly overestimates the 30-day mortality.

Concomitant surgical ablation of AF is a reasonable treatment option for drug refractory AF in patients with HCM undergoing surgical myectomy and/or mitral valve surgery. However, chronic antiarrhythmic drugs are needed to achieve a satisfactory mid-term arrhythmia control.