Abstract

Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a dangerous disease with high mortality (20-40%). A leading cause of death is multi-organ failure (MODS) with liver dysfunction (LD) as major contributor. Data on LD in IE patients are scarce. We assessed the impact of preoperative - and newly occurring LD on in-hospital mortality and long-term survival in IE patients. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed our database for surgery of left-sided endocarditis between 1/07 and 4/13. We used the hepatic Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (hSOFA) score to assess the degree of LD. We performed Chi-Square, Cox regression and multivariate analyses. Results: The 308 patients had a mean age of 62 ±13.9. Preoperative LD (hSOFA > 0, Bilirubin > 32 μmol/L) was present in 1/4 (n=81) of patients and was associated with severely elevated in-hospital mortality (51.9% vs.14.6% without preoperative LD, p<0.001). Newly-occurring postoperative LD developed in another quarter (n=57 of 227 patients without LD) of patients and was associated with elevated in-hospital mortality (24.6% vs. 11.2%, p<0.001). Kaplan-Meyer 5-year survival was significantly better in patients without LD (51% vs. 19.9%, p<0.01). Survival curves were practically identical after the perioperative phase was over (Fig.). Quality of life in survivors was also the same. Cox regression analysis revealed preoperative LD as independent predictor of long-term survival (adjusted hazard ratio 1.695, 95% confidence interval 1.160-2.477, p=0.009) and duration of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and S. aureus infection as independent predictors of newly-occurring postoperative LD. Conclusions: LD in patients with endocarditis is a significant independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality. A considerable fraction of patients develop LD perioperatively, which is associated with cardiopulmonary bypass-duration and S. aureus infection. However, after surviving surgery, prognosis no longer seems to be predicted by LD.

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