Association between TAVR and endocarditis, mortality

Editor's Note

In this study of patients having transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), younger age, male gender, history of diabetes, and moderate to severe residual aortic regurgitation were significantly associated with an increased risk of infective endocarditis. Patients who developed endocarditis had high rates of in-hospital and 2-year mortality.

Of 20,000 patients analyzed, there were 250 cases of infective endocarditis after TAVR. In-hospital mortality was 36%, and the 2-year mortality was 66.7%.

Further studies need to address the potential benefits of surgical therapy in this group of patients, the authors say.

1Quebec Heart & Lung Institute, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada 2Heart Center, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany 3EMO-GVM Centro Cuore Columbus and San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy 4Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark 5Bichat Hôpital, AP-HP, University Paris Diderot, France 6Kerckhoff Klinik, Bad Nauheim, Germany 7Deutsches Herzzentrum München, Technische Universität München, DZHK,