Aims The EURO-ENDO registry aimed to study the management and outcomes of patients with infective endocarditis (IE). Methods and results Prospective cohort of 3116 adult patients (2470 from Europe, 646 from non-ESC countries), admitted to 156 hospitals in 40 countries between January 2016 and March 2018 with a diagnosis of IE based on ESC 2015 diagnostic criteria. Clinical, biological, microbiological, and imaging [echocardiography, computed tomography (CT) scan, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT)] data were collected. Infective endocarditis was native (NVE) in 1764 (56.6%) patients, prosthetic (PVIE) in 939 (30.1%), and device-related (CDRIE) in 308 (9.9%). Infective endocarditis was community-acquired in 2046 (65.66%) patients. Microorganisms involved were staphylococci in 1085 (44.1%) patients, oral streptococci in 304 (12.3%), enterococci in 390 (15.8%), and Streptococcus gallolyticus in 162 (6.6%). 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography was performed in 518 (16.6%) patients and presented with cardiac uptake (major criterion) in 222 (42.9%) patients, with a better sensitivity in PVIE (66.8%) than in NVE (28.0%) and CDRIE (16.3%). Embolic events occurred in 20.6% of patients, and were significantly associated with tricuspid or pulmonary IE, presence of a vegetation and Staphylococcus aureus IE. According to ESC guidelines, cardiac surgery was indicated in 2160 (69.3%) patients, but finally performed in only 1596 (73.9%) of them. In-hospital death occurred in 532 (17.1%) patients and was more frequent in PVIE. Independent predictors of mortality were Charlson index, creatinine > 2 mg/dL, congestive heart failure, vegetation length > 10 mm, cerebral complications, abscess, and failure to undertake surgery when indicated. Conclusion Infective endocarditis is still a life-threatening disease with frequent lethal outcome despite profound changes in its clinical, microbiological, imaging, and therapeutic profiles.

Purpose High mortality and a limited performance of valvular surgery are typical features of infective endocarditis (IE) in octogenarians, even though surgical treatment is a major determinant of a successful outcome in IE. Methods Data from the prospective multicentre ESC EORP EURO-ENDO registry were used to assess the prognostic role of valvular surgery depending on age. Results As compared to < 80 yo patients, ≥ 80 yo had lower rates of theoretical indication for valvular surgery (49.1% vs. 60.3%, p < 0.001), of surgery performed (37.0% vs. 75.5%, p < 0.001), and a higher in-hospital (25.9% vs. 15.8%, p < 0.001) and 1-year mortality (41.3% vs. 22.2%, p < 0.001). By multivariable analysis, age per se was not predictive of 1-year mortality, but lack of surgical procedures when indicated was strongly predictive ). By propensity analysis, 304 ≥ 80 yo were matched to 608 < 80 yo patients. Propensity analysis confirmed the lower rate of indication for valvular surgery (51.3% vs. 57.2%, p = 0.031) and of surgery performed (35.3% vs. 68.4%, p < 0.0001) in ≥ 80 yo. Overall mortality remained higher in ≥ 80 yo (in-hospital: HR 1.50[1.06-2.13], p = 0.0210; 1-yr: HR 1.58[1.21-2.05], p = 0.0006), but was not different from that of < 80 yo among those who had surgery (in-hospital: 19.7% vs. 20.0%, p = 0.4236; 1-year: 27.3% vs. 25.5%, p = 0.7176). Conclusion Although mortality rates are consistently higher in ≥ 80 yo patients than in < 80 yo patients in the general population, mortality of surgery in ≥ 80 yo is similar to < 80 yo after matching patients. These results confirm the importance of a better recognition of surgical indication and of an increased performance of surgery in ≥ 80 yo patients.

Introduction: Warfarin is a commonly utilized anticoagulant in the management of thrombosis, either prevention or treatment, with bleeding problems as one of the major adverse effect because of its narrow therapeutic index. Objective: To determine the frequency of various factors leading to warfarin toxicity which was defined as patients presented with International Normalized Ratio (INR) greater than five. Setting: Department of Adult Cardiology at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Karachi, Pakistan. Methodology: The study type is descriptive, cross sectional. All patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and visited Department of Adult Cardiology at NICVD, Karachi, Pakistan were included. After ethical approval and informed and written consent. The collected data was entered using IBM SPSS - 21, for variables that were continuous mean Standard Deviation was calculated and for variables that were categorical frequency percentage were calculated. Results: Total of 87 patients with warfarin toxicity were included. 52 patients (60%) were males & 35 (40%) were females with the mean age of 48.5287 ± 13.1386 years. The factors leading to warfarin toxicity were dietary non-compliance 19 patients (21.83%), drug non-compliance in 18 (20.68%), drug-drug interactions in 12 (13.79%), irregular follow up in 23 (26.39%) and deranged liver functions in 26 (29.88%) patients. Conclusion: Warfarin toxicity has multifactorial causes. Deranged liver functions and irregular follow up of patients accounted for the most prominent factors leading to warfarin toxicity.

Congenital venous anomalies are uncommon, incidental findings encountered during adult interventional electrophysiology procedures. Femoral venous access is conventionally used during cardiac electrophysiology studies to gain access to the heart. The chance finding of an inferior vena cava anomaly may preclude the performance of these procedures from the femoral approach. We describe two cases in which we were able to successfully perform different radiofrequency catheter ablation procedures in the presence of an unusual venous anomaly, the left-sided IVC. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.6.2947 How to cite this:Awan RA, Khanzada MF, Mumtaz Z, Qadir F. Successful radio-frequency catheter ablation of two cases of supraventricular tachycardia via a left-sided inferior vena cava. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(6):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.6.2947 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Background: Femoral vein access is the preferred approach for advancing multiple catheters via the inferior vena cava (IVC) to the heart during routine cardiac electrophysiology study and catheter ablation. Compared to acquired venous abnormalities, congenital inferior vena cava anomalies are encountered rather infrequently in adult electrophysiology procedures and their presence may pose technical procedural challenges. Presentation: We describe 2 cases in which we were able to successfully perform cardiac electrophysiological procedures in the presence of a complex congenital venous anomaly, the left sided IVC. First case was 30 year old gentleman presented with history of recurrent episodes of supraventricular tachycardia terminated with AV nodal blocking agents. Second case was 21 year old boy with WPW syndrome and recurrent supra-ventricular tachycardia. Diagnosis and Management: We managed to pass the EP catheters in both cases with a bit difficulty and angulation, while given I/V heparin to reduce the risk of thrombosis and confirmed the position of catheters via subclavian venous placement of a guidewire. In first case, typical AV node reentry tachycardia was induced which was mapped and ablated in the slow pathway region. In second case, right posterior accessory pathway was ablated at 6 0’clock. CT angiography of the abdominal veins was performed which confirmed the finding of left sided IVC. Follow-up and Outcomes: Abnormalities of the IVC are relatively uncommon. But it is an important condition that may be encountered by electrophysiologist. Catheter ablation of the slow AV nodal pathway and right posterior accessory pathway was safely and successfully performed with this unusual venous anomaly. Keywords: SVT, LEFT IVC, RFA