Surgical Treatment of Infective Endocarditis

감염성 심내막염에 대한 외과적치료

Clinical experience of 21 patients with infective endocarditis was reviewed. Endocarditis involved the left-sided valve in 16 cases, the right-sided valve in 2, and PDA in the remaining 3 patients. Valve abnormalities included leaflet perforation in 9 patients, chordal rupture in 2,; annular abscess in 6; and aorticoleft atnal perforation in 2. Sixteen patients underwent valve replacement[aortic valve replacement in 7 patients, mitral replacement in 4 and double valve replacement in 5], two had VSD closure with pulmonary valve excision, three had ductus arteriousus closure. The patients were classified into two groups. I ] Healed endocarditis group: including the patients who had completed a planned cou-rseof antibiotic therapy[N=10], II ] Active endocarditis group: patients in which operations were performed prior to completetion of antibiotic treatment course[N=11]. The indications for operation included congestive heart failure, embolism, and persistent sepsis. Organisms were predominantly streptococcus[N=5] and staphylococcus [N=4] followed by candida, moraxella, and E-coli. By NYHA functional classification, all patients were in Class III or IV preoperatively. There was only one operative mortality in patient from group II. All patients substantially, improved postoperatively with NYHA classification in class I or II. This study shows that early surgical intervention in patients with active endocarditis has desirable outcome.