Adrián Lozano Ibáñez

Introduction and objectives: Acute heart failure (AHF) is the leading cardiovascular cause of hospitalization and remains associated with high mortality and rehospitalization rates. Contemporary real-world data from cardiology departments are scarce. We aimed to identify admission characteristics associated with one-year outcomes in patients hospitalized with AHF. Methods: RECYLICA is a prospective, multicentre, regional registry including consecutive patients admitted with AHF to cardiology departments across 10 hospitals over a one-year period. Patients were followed for 12 months. The primary endpoint was the composite of all-cause mortality or heart failure (HF) rehospitalization. Results: A total of 602 patients were included (37.0% women; mean age 72.6 ± 12.0 years), of whom 47.4% had heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF). During follow-up, 83 patients (13.8%) died and 105 (17.4%) were rehospitalized because of HF. Independent predictors of the primary endpoint were elevated admission N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), atrial fibrillation (AF), chronic kidney disease (CKD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), previous HF, prior implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation, and higher left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Among patients with HFrEF, less comprehensive implementation of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) at discharge was associated with significantly worse outcomes. Conclusions: In patients hospitalized with AHF, prognosis is primarily determined by comorbidity burden, admission NT-proBNP levels, previous HF, and LVEF. Among patients with HFrEF, more comprehensive implementation of GDMT at discharge was associated with improved clinical outcomes, supporting early optimization of evidence-based therapy during hospitalization.

Background/Objectives: Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) carries a high morbidity and mortality. Surgery is classically indicated for heart failure, uncontrolled infection, or prevention of embolic events; however, evidence supporting surgery for “non-classical” indications—such as Staphylococcus aureus infection, non-HACEK Gram-negative bacteria, or early PVE—remains limited. This study aimed to update the clinical and prognostic profile of PVE and assess the impact of surgery, particularly in patients with non-classical surgical indications. Methods: We prospectively included all definite left-sided PVE cases diagnosed between 2000 and 2024 at three tertiary centers. Clinical, microbiological, echocardiographic, and prognostic data were analyzed and compared. Predictors of in-hospital mortality were identified using multivariable logistic regression, and Kaplan–Meier curves were used to compare 1-year survival according to surgical indications. Results: Among 589 patients with left-sided PVE, 61% underwent surgery, and in-hospital mortality was 31%. Independent mortality predictors were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary hypertension, periannular complications, S. aureus infection, and poor clinical condition at admission. Non-classical surgical indications were present in 38% of patients, although only 28 (5%) of them had no other surgical indication. These patients exhibited lower mortality (14%) and no survival benefit from surgery (10% vs. 17%; p 0.999). Conclusions: PVE remains associated with high mortality. Surgery improves survival in patients with classical surgical indications but not in patients with non-classical indications, supporting individualized surgical decisions by a multidisciplinary endocarditis team.

Background/Objectives: Heart failure worsens the prognosis of patients with infective endocarditis (IE) and is mainly caused by severe valvular regurgitation. The aim of our investigation is to describe the clinical, epidemiological, microbiological, and echocardiographic characteristics of patients with native left-sided infective endocarditis (NLSIE) with severe valvular regurgitation; to describe the prognosis according to the therapeutic approach; and to determine the prognostic factors of in-hospital mortality. Methods: We prospectively recruited all episodes of possible or definite NLSIE diagnosed at three tertiary hospitals between 2005 and 2022. Patients were divided into two groups: patients with severe valvular regurgitation at the time of admission or during hospitalization and patients without severe valvular regurgitation. We analyzed up to 85 variables concerning epidemiological, clinical, analytical, microbiological, and echocardiographic data. Results: We recovered 874 patients with NLSIE, 564 (65%) of them with severe valvular regurgitation. There were no differences in mortality among patients with and without severe regurgitation (30.2% vs. 26.5%, p = 0.223). However, mortality increased when patients with severe regurgitation developed heart failure (33% vs. 11.4%, p < 0.001). Independent factors related to heart failure were age (OR 1.02 [1.01–1.034], p = 0.001), anemia (OR 1.2 [1.18–3.31], p = 0.01), atrial fibrillation (OR 2.3 [1.08–4.89], p = 0.03), S. viridans-related IE (OR 0.47 [0.3–0.73], p = 0.001), and mitroaortic severe regurgitation (OR 2.4 [1.15–5.02], p = 0.019). Conclusions: Severe valvular regurgitation is very frequent among patients with NLSIE, but it does not worsen the prognosis of patients unless complicated with heart failure.

Approximately a quarter of patients with infective endocarditis (IE) who have surgical indication only receive antibiotic treatment. Their short-term prognosis is dismal. We aimed to describe the characteristics of this group of patients to evaluate the mortality according to the cause of rejection and type of surgical indication and to analyze their prognostic factors of mortality. From 2005 to 2022, 1105 patients with definite left-sided IE were consecutively attended in three tertiary hospitals. Of them, 912 (82.5%) had formal surgical indication according to the most recent European Guidelines available in each period of the study and 303 (33%) only received medical treatment. These were older, had more comorbidities and higher in-hospital (46% vs. 24%; p < 0.001) and one year mortality (57.1% vs. 27.6%; p < 0.001) than operated patients. The main reason for surgical rejection was high surgical risk (57.1%) and the highest mortality when the cause were severe neurological conditions (76%). When the endocarditis team took the decision not to operate (25.5% of the patients), in-hospital (7%) and one-year mortality (17%) were low. In-hospital mortality associated with each surgical indication was 67% in heart failure, 53% in uncontrolled infection and 45% in prevention of embolisms (p < 0.001). Heart failure (OR: 2.26 CI95%: 1.29–3.96; p = 0.005), Staphylococcus aureus (OR: 3.17; CI95%: 1.72–5.86; p < 0.001) and persistent infection (OR: 5.07 CI95%: 2.85–9.03) are the independent risk factors of in-hospital mortality. One third of the patients with left-sided IE and formal surgical indication are rejected for surgery. In-hospital mortality is very high, especially when heart failure is the indication for surgery and when severe neurological conditions the reason for rejection. Short term prognosis of patients rejected by a specialized endocarditis team is favorable.

Studies focused on the clinical profile of native valve endocarditis are scarce and outdated. In addition, none of them analyzed differences depending on the causative microorganism. Our objectives are to describe the clinical profile at admission of patients with left-sided native valve infective endocarditis in a contemporary wide series of patients and to compare them among the most frequent etiologies. To do so, we conducted a prospective, observational cohort study including 569 patients with native left-sided endocarditis enrolled from 2006 to 2019. We describe the modes of presentation and the symptoms and signs at admission of these patients and compare them among the five more frequent microbiological etiologies. Coagulase-negative Staphylococci and Enterococci endocarditis patients were the oldest (71 ± 11 years), and episodes caused by Streptococci viridans were less frequently nosocomial (4%). The neurologic, cutaneous or renal modes of presentation were more typical in Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis (28%, p = 0.002), the wasting syndrome of Streptococcus viridans (49%, p < 0.001), and the cardiac in Coagulase-negative Staphylococci, Enterococci and unidentified microorganism endocarditis (45%, 49% and 56%, p < 0.001). The clinical signs agreed with the mode of presentation. In conclusion, the modes of presentation and the clinical picture at admission were tightly associated with the causative microorganism in patients with left-sided native valve endocarditis.