Objective-To determine the clinical features and long term prognosis of infective endocarditis in patients who were not drug addicts. Design-Prospective case series. Setting-A university hospital that is both a referral and a primary care centre. Patients-138 consecutive cases of infective endocarditis diagnosed and treated from January 1987 to March 1997. Results-Mean patient age was 44 (20) years old. 95 patients (69%) had native valve endocarditis and 43 (31%) had prosthetic valve endocarditis. Staphylococci were the causal microorganisms in 34% of cases and streptococci in 33%. Severe complications occurred in 83% of patients and 51% of patients underwent surgery during the active phase (22% was emergency surgery). Inpatient mortality was 21%. During a follow up of 56 (44) months, 10 patients (9%) needed late cardiac surgery and seven (5% of the whole series) died. Overall 10 year survival was 71%. There were no significant diVerences in survival depending on the type of treatment received during the hospital stay (medical or combined medical-surgical). Conclusions-A high early surgery rate is related to good long term results and does not increase in-hospital mortality. Medical treatment, however, also oVers favourable long term results in cases of responsive infective endocarditis where poor prognostic factors are absent. (Heart 2000;83:525-530)
Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR cholangiography is a highly reliable technique for the detection of bile leaks after hepatobiliary surgery and may avoid the use of other, potentially risky invasive diagnostic techniques.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.