Objectives: Infective valve endocarditis with presence of preoperative strokes poses a particular
surgical challenge. The best possible timing for valve surgery is still discussed
controversially due to the risk of intracerebral bleeding (ICB). Here, we investigated
the impact of preoperative stroke on overall survival and analyzed timing of surgery
with regard to survival status and postoperative change in neurological morbidity.
Methods: Between 2009 and 2016, 534 patients underwent surgery due to infective valve endocarditis
at our institution and were analyzed retrospectively. Patients were initially grouped
into native valve (NVE) (n = 356; 66.7%) and prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) (n = 178; 33.3%) and further divided into subgroups according to status of preoperative
stroke. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics 24.
Results: Prevalence of preoperative stroke was 24.7% (n = 88/356) in the NVE group. Patients who suffered a preoperative stroke showed significantly
lower overall survival (OS) according to Kaplan-Meier estimates (mean ± SEM, 68.6 ± 2.8
versus 47.1 ± 5.0 months; p < 0.001). In the PVE group, prevalence of preoperative stroke was 15.2% (n = 27/178). Interestingly, OS did not differ significantly among preoperative stroke
status (mean ± SEM, 51.9 ± 4.2 vs. 37.7 ± 7.5 months). We were further able to show,
that an early surgery within 7 days of the stroke did not have a significantly higher
incidence of postoperative ICB in both, the NVE (3/54 patients, 5.6%) and PVE group
(1/13 patients, 7.7%). Finally, we analyzed the impact of surgery within 7 days of
diagnosis on postoperative neurological outcome. Our results show that postoperative
neurological symptoms classified as improvement, steady state or deterioration, are
independent from timing of surgery in both groups, NVE and PVE.
Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that an early surgery in patients with infective valve endocarditis
complicated by preoperative stroke is not associated with a higher incidence of postoperative
ICB. Nevertheless, we call for careful selection of patients and individual multidisciplinary
approach. Further studies are needed to confirm these results and help to determine
an optimal time frame for surgical intervention in patients with infective valve endocarditis.