Aortic Valve Replacement vs Clinical Surveillance in Asymptomatic Severe Aortic Stenosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Current guidelines recommend a strategy of clinical surveillance (CS) for patients with asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis (AS) and a normal left ventricular ejection fraction.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to conduct a study-level meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of early aortic valve replacement (AVR) compared with CS in patients with asymptomatic severe AS.

Methods: Studies were quantitatively assessed in a meta-analysis using random-effects modeling.

Endocarditis, invasive dental procedures, and antibiotic prophylaxis efficacy in US Medicaid patients.

Objective: Antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended before invasive dental procedures to prevent endocarditis in those at high risk, but supporting data are sparse. We therefore investigated any association between invasive dental procedures and endocarditis, and any antibiotic prophylaxis effect on endocarditis incidence.

Subjects And Methods: Cohort and case-crossover studies were performed on 1,678,190 Medicaid patients with linked medical, dental, and prescription data.

Expert consensus recommendations for the provision of infective endocarditis services: updated guidance from the Joint British Societies.

Infective endocarditis (IE) remains a difficult condition to diagnose and treat and is an infection of high consequence for patients, causing long hospital stays, life-changing complications and high mortality. A new multidisciplinary, multiprofessional, British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)-ledWorking Party was convened to undertake a focused systematical review of the literature and to update the previous BSAC guidelines relating delivery of services for patients with IE. A scoping exercise identified new questions concerning optimal delivery of care, and the systematic review identified 16 231 papers of which 20 met the inclusion criteria.

Effectiveness of exhaled nitric oxide for the prediction of non-invasive left atrial pressure in older people: a cross-sectional cohort study.

Background: During left-sided heart failure (HF), left atrial and pulmonary venous pressure increase, which may lead to pulmonary congestion. Previous cohort studies, examining participants with symptomatic HF or rheumatic heart disease, suggest a relationship between increased left atrial pressure (LAP) and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO).

Aim: To examine the strength of association between FeNO and echocardiographic assessment of LAP by the E/e' ratio, to determine if FeNO could be used to identify those with elevated LAP.

Trends in the incidence and mortality of infective endocarditis in high-income countries between 1990 and 2019.

Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) remains a life-threatening disease with high morbidity and mortality.

Objectives: To describe temporal trends in IE incidence, mortality and survival over the last 30 years.

Methods: Nineteen high-income countries (the 'EU 15+') were included.

Temporal association between invasive procedures and infective endocarditis.

Objective: Antibiotic prophylaxis has been recommended for patients at increased risk of infective endocarditis (IE) undergoing specific invasive procedures (IPs) despite a lack of data supporting its use. Therefore, antibiotic prophylaxis recommendations ceased in the mid-2000s for all but those at high IE risk undergoing invasive dental procedures. We aimed to quantify any association between IPs and IE.

Antibiotic Prophylaxis Against Infective Endocarditis Before Invasive Dental Procedures.

Background: Antibiotic prophylaxis (AP) before invasive dental procedures (IDPs) is recommended to prevent infective endocarditis (IE) in those at high IE risk, but there are sparse data supporting a link between IDPs and IE or AP efficacy in IE prevention.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate any association between IDPs and IE, and the effectiveness of AP in reducing this.

Methods: We performed a case-crossover analysis and cohort study of the association between IDPs and IE, and AP efficacy, in 7,951,972 U.

Infective endocarditis following invasive dental procedures: IDEA case-crossover study.

Background: Infective endocarditis is a heart infection with a first-year mortality rate of ≈ 30%. It has long been thought that infective endocarditis is causally associated with bloodstream seeding with oral bacteria in ≈ 40-45% of cases. This theorem led guideline committees to recommend that individuals at increased risk of infective endocarditis should receive antibiotic prophylaxis before undergoing invasive dental procedures.

Heart valve disease: a journey of discovery.

In the centenary year of the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS), this review article outlines the influence of UK cardiologists and surgeons on the field of heart valve disease, many of whom can rightly claim 'world firsts' in the field. From the description of endocarditis as we know it today at the turn of the 20th century, to the first mitral valvotomy, heart valve replacement and invention of the Ross procedure. These advances have transformed the outlook of patients with symptomatic valve disease from palliation and certain death to curative treatment and near normal life expectancy.

Risk of infective endocarditis after surgical and transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Objective: To define the incidence and risk factors for infective endocarditis (IE) following surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

Methods: All patients who underwent first SAVR or TAVI in England between 2007 and 2016 were identified from the NICOR databases. Hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of IE were identified by linkage with the NHS Hospital Episode Statistics database.