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Introduction. Infective endocarditis (IE) is a disease associated with high morbidity and mortality. Multiple risk factors have been identified for mortality in IE. Material and methods. 21 patients diagnosed with IE between January 2018 and January 2019 were retrospectively analysed. All data was expressed as mean ± standard error (SE). Variables were analysed with chi-square, Fisher's exact, and Mann-Whitney tests. A p-value < 0.05 was identified as statistically significant. Results. Total mortality was 52.4% and in-hospital mortality was 28.6%. Patients who died in the course of IE were older compared to survivors (66.7 ± 19.8 years vs 70.8 ± 11.6). Staphylococci and Streptococci spp. were causative pathogens in 71.4% of cases of IE. Morphology was the most important feature that identified patients who died: white blood cells were higher in non-survivors (35.39 ± 14.36 vs 12.02 ± 4.67, p < 0.05); haemoglobin level was decreased (7.47 ± 0.96 vs 9.51 ± 1.33, p < 0.05); and thrombocytopenia (82.50 ± 45.85 vs 179.8 ± 56.13, p < 0.05) was characteristic for non-survivors. The plates-to-leucocytes ratio in patients who died during hospitalisation was 3.01 ± 2.89. For patients who survived hospitalisation it was 15.10 ± 10.86 (p = 0.0069). Similar results were achieved when comparing patients who died during hospitalisation 3.01 ± 2.89 vs patients who survived until 2019 16.94 ± 12.62 (p = 0.004662). Conclusion. Morphology is recommended as the key diagnostic test in predicting mortality risk in patients with IE. The plates-to-leucocytes ratio is also a significant marker of mortality. Prompt identification and close monitoring of risk factors may prevent a higher mortality rate in IE.

BackgroundPatients with permanent pacemakers should be followed up regularly and parameters recorded during the follow-up visits might have potential for further diagnostic studies. Material and methodsA pilot cross-sectional study on 127 consecutive patients who underwent pacemaker follow-up was performed. ResultsThe study revealed that patients with older ventricular leads (more than 10 years) have higher lead impedance in comparison with patients with newer ventricular leads (less than 10 years) -512 Ω vs 461 Ω (median values), with no differences in pacing thresholds, percentage of ventricular pacing, presence of ventricular high rate episodes or status of absolute pacemaker dependency. ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that parameters obtained from a regular pacemaker check-up differ according to variables such as lead age, which opens a new field for studies investigating other variables (e.g. disease biomarkers) in correlation with parameters from the pacemaker check-up.