Neurological risk in urgent valve replacement cardiac surgery for infective endocarditis with cerebrovascular complications - a case series

• DOI: 10.1186/1749-8090-10-s1-a56
• Publication Date: 2015-12-17T00:03:29Z
• Authors: Apoorva Ballal; Sara Mirza; Jaishanker Raman
• Keywords: Infective Endocarditis; Cardiothoracic surgery; Valve replacement

The indications for urgent valve replacement in patients with infective endocarditis (IE) include uncontrolled infection, recurrent emboli, dysfunction and cardiac failure. optimal timing of this surgery when IE is complicated by cerebrovascular events (such as cerebral infarction or haemorrhage) controversial, largely due to the escalated risk perioperative intracranial bleeding, given that patient fully anticoagulated on cardiopulmonary bypass procedure. While current guidelines suggest waiting at least 2 weeks between diagnosis stroke surgery, a deteriorating clinical condition might be beneficial if done earlier.