Clinical Characteristics and Outcome of Infective Endocarditis among Intravenous Drug Abusers after 6 months

Abstract

Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) is one ofmore dangerous complications of intravenous drug use (IVDU). This infection is significantly correlated with morbidity and mortality. The present work aimed to evaluate acute and short-term clinical characteristics and outcomes of IVDU IE and comparing with non-IVDU IE.Subjects and methods: This retrospective study involved 80 patients with infective endocarditis (IE) and were referred for management by IE working team at Zagazig University Hospital, population was allocated into two groups: 80 individuals who were intravenous (IV) drug users and had IE and another 80 individuals who were not IV drug users but also had IE, as determined by modified Dukes criteria.Results: In our study, clinical and diagnostic aspects did not significantly differ between IV-IE and Non-IV-IE patients (p>0.05), except for a higher prevalence of needle puncture marks in IV drug users (p<0.0001). There was a non-remarkable variance between the groups regarding echocardiographic characteristics and the number and size of vegetation. The administration of gentamicin, vancomycin, and various other antimicrobial therapies did not differ significantly between IV drug users and non-IV drug users with IE.Conclusion: We found that IVDU-IE is very common among infective endocarditis disease. This type of patient is not predictable and is associated with serious complications, significant morbidity and mortality. As for therapy, medical treatment is sufficient in some cases, but others may require cardiac surgical intervention. Finally, this observational study allows a better understanding of the most common complications observed in those patients and the relevant causes of mortality.