[Surgical treatment of infective endocarditis : an analysis of the risk factor for operative mortality]

From January 1980, through December 1995, 60 patients underwent surgical treatment of infective endocarditis (IE) at Sakakibara Hospital. Of 60 patients, 40 showed active endocarditis and 20 healed endocarditis at the time of operation. The over-all hospital mortality was 10% (6/60). The complication of cerebral accident (embolism and bleeding) was related to a higher incidence of operative mortality. The reconstructions of destruction and disruption of ventricular-aortic or mitral-aortic continity in the presence of acute infection of the annular tissue were in need of radical and complex surgical techniques. It is recommended to follow up these patients thoughtfully and to perform reoperation or re-reoperation before a patient develops severe heart failure or multiple organ failure.