Contemporary risk models for infective endocarditis surgery: a narrative review

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Cardiac Surgery
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Infective endocarditis (IE) is a severe heart valve infection with high surgical risks.
• Risk models are crucial for surgical decision-making and performance evaluation but are under-utilized in IE.
• General cardiac surgery risk scores are often applied to IE, but specialized scores are emerging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review contemporary risk scores specifically developed for infective endocarditis surgery.
• To discuss the clinical characteristics and applications of these specialized IE risk scores.
• To highlight the importance of risk stratification in optimizing surgical outcomes for IE patients.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature review of contemporary risk scores for infective endocarditis surgery.
• Analysis of clinical characteristics and reported applications of identified risk scores.
• Comparison of endocarditis-specific scores with traditional general cardiac surgery risk models.

Main Results:

• Several endocarditis surgery-specific risk scores have been developed in the last decade.
• These scores offer improved accuracy in predicting outcomes for IE patients undergoing surgery.
• Traditional scores like EuroSCORE and STS score have limitations when applied to IE.

Conclusions:

• Contemporary, endocarditis-specific risk scores are essential for accurate surgical risk assessment.
• These scores aid in clinical decision-making, perioperative management, and institutional performance evaluation.
• Wider adoption of specialized IE risk models is recommended to improve patient care and outcomes.