Severe complicated Clostridium difficile infection: Can the UPMC proposed scoring system predict the need for...

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is one of the most common health care-associated infections, and it continues to have significant morbidity and mortality. The onset of fulminant colitis often requires total abdominal colectomy with ileostomy, which has a mortality rate of 35% to 57%. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) developed a scoring system for severity and recommended surgical consultation for severe complicated disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the UPMC-proposed scoring system for severe complicated CDI can predict the need for surgical intervention.

This is a retrospective review of all patients who developed severe complicated CDI at Geisinger Medical Center between January 2007 and December 2012 as defined by the UPMC scoring system. Main outcomes were the need for surgical intervention and 30-day mortality.

Eighty-eight patients had severe complicated CDI based on the UPMC scoring system. Fifty-nine patients (67%) required surgery and 29 did not. All patients had a diagnosis of CDI as shown by positive toxin assays. There was no difference between the groups with respect to age, sex, body mass index, or comorbidities. When comparing the surgical group to the nonsurgical cohort, the surgical cohort averaged 20 points on the scoring system compared to 9 in the nonoperative cohort. In patients with severe complicated CDI, 15 or more points predicted the need for surgery 75% of the time. Forty-two percent of the surgical cohort had respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation compared to 0% in the nonsurgical cohort (p < 0.0001). Forty-nine percent of the surgical cohort required vasopressors for septic shock before surgery compared to 0% in the nonsurgical cohort (p < 0.0001). Acute kidney injury was present in 92% of the surgical cohort versus 72% within the nonsurgical cohort (p = 0.026). Seventy-six percent of the surgical patients were admitted to the ICU before surgery. Within the nonsurgical cohort, only 24% of patients required ICU stay during admission. Overall, 30-day mortality in the surgical cohort was 30%, and there was no mortality in the nonsurgical cohort.

The UPMC scoring system for severe complicated CDI can help us predict patients who need a surgical consult and the need for surgical intervention. In patients with severe complicated CDI, evidence of end-organ failure predicts surgical intervention.

Prognostic study, level III; therapeutic study, level IV.