•About 5% of admissions to the cardiac intensive care unit during the influenza season have influenza.•Influenza was not clinically suspected in a third of cases.•Influenza is associated with more ...severe conditions and heart failure.•Influenza is associated with the need for mechanical ventilation.•Almost 50% of patients with an indication for vaccination were not vaccinated.
Little is known about the incidence of influenza among admissions to the cardiac intensive care unit (C-ICU), accuracy of clinical suspicion, and influenza vaccination uptake. We evaluated the incidence of influenza at C-ICU admission during the influenza season, potential underdiagnosis, and vaccination uptake.
Prospective study at five C-ICUs during the 2017-2020 influenza seasons. A nasopharyngeal swab was collected at admission from patients who consented (n = 788). Testing was with Xpert®XpressFlu/RSV.
Influenza was detected in 43 patients (5.5%) (40 FluA; 3 FluB) and clinically suspected in 27 (62.8%). Compared to patients without influenza, patients with influenza more frequently had heart failure (37.2% vs 22.8%, P = 0.031), previous contact with relatives with influenza-like illnesses (23.3% vs 12.5%, P = 0.042), antimicrobial use (67.4% vs 23.2%, P <0.01), and need for mechanical ventilation (25.6% vs 14.5%, P = 0.048). Patients received oseltamivir promptly. We found no differences in mortality (11.6% vs 5.2%, P = 0.076). Patients with influenza more frequently had myocarditis (9.3% vs 0.9%, P <0.01) and pericarditis (7.0% vs 0.8%, P = 0.01). Overall, 43.0% of patients (339/788) were vaccinated (51.9% of those with a clear indication 303/584).
Influenza seems to be a frequently underdiagnosed underlying condition in admissions to the C-ICU. Influenza should be screened for at C-ICU admission during influenza epidemics.
Colonization by Staphylococcus aureus is regularly assessed in patients undergoing major heart surgery (MHS). Despite pre-surgical decontamination attempts, a significant proportion of MHS patients ...remain colonized by S. aureus at the time of surgery. Nasal sampling can be improved by sampling extra-nasal areas. We evaluated whether processing lower respiratory tract (LRT) secretions enhanced the detection of S. aureus after MHS. Following a standard protocol, nasal swabs and LRT aspirates were obtained from all of the study patients at the time of surgery or in the immediate postoperative period. One swab was used for culture in the microbiology laboratory, and a second swab was used for the Xpert SA Nasal Complete assay. According to our definition of colonization (culture positive and/or PCR positive), 31 of 115 patients (26.9%) were colonized at the time of surgery. Among these, LRT samples only were positive in three patients (2.6% of the whole population and 9.7% of the carriers). The remaining 28 were either positive in the nasal sample or positive in both samples. The yield of the detection of colonization by S. aureus by including also LRT samples in patients undergoing MHS is limited and must be balanced with laboratory workload and demands on laboratory personnel. Trial registration: Clinical trials.gov NCT02640001.
Invasive aspergillosis is a well-known complication in severely immunosuppressed patients, including heart transplant recipients, and associated mortality is high. Despite the severity of the disease ...in this population, few recent series with secular trends have addressed the problem.
We performed a descriptive study of 479 consecutive heart transplant recipients from 1988 to 2011 in a single institution.
Overall invasive aspergillosis incidence in heart transplant recipients was 6.5% (31 of 479). Incidence decreased from 8.7% (24 of 277) in the period 1988 to 2000 (historical cohort) to 3.5% (7 of 202) afterward (p = 0.02); 4 of the 7 cases were in the context of an outbreak. The most common presentation was lung infection, but episodes occurring >3 months after transplantation (late aspergillosis) showed a higher frequency of disseminated disease and involvement of the central nervous system and of atypical sites compared with early (first 3 months) episodes. Related mortality was 36%, with a significant decrease between the historical cohort and the present cohort: 46% vs 0% (p = 0.04) and a trend toward lower related death in early vs late cases (26% vs 63%, p = 0.09).
In our series, both incidence and mortality associated with invasive aspergillosis in heart transplant recipients showed a decrease in recent years. Careful environmental management and targeted anti-fungal prophylaxis may minimize the incidence of invasive aspergillosis in this setting.
Mortality rates among adults with candidemia vary widely in different geographical settings. Studies directly comparing epidemiology and clinical practices between countries are scarce and could ...bring insights into improving clinical outcomes.
Retrospective cohort including adults with candidemia diagnosed in five tertiary hospitals from Brazil and Spain between 2010-2018. Adequate therapeutic management included appropriate antifungal therapy and central-venous-catheter (CVC) removal within 48 h of fungemia. Primary endpoints were mortality rates at 14 and 30 days. Secondary endpoints were prognostic factors associated with 30-day mortality.
Overall, 720 patients were included, being 323 from Spain. Spanish patients received echinocandins more often (52·5% vs. 39·3%, p = 0.001), initiated antifungals earlier 2 (0-7) vs. 2 days (0-16), p<0.001, and had faster CVC-removal 1 (0-42) vs. 2 days (0-38), p = 0.012. Mortality was higher among Brazilians at 14 days (35·8% vs. 20·1%, p<0.001), and at 30 days (51·9% vs. 31·6%, p < 0.001). Factors associated with mortality included: age OR 1·02, 95%CI (1·008-1·032), p = 0·001, neutropenia OR 3·24, 95%CI (1·594-6·585), p = 0·001, chronic pulmonary disease OR 2·26, 95%CI (1·495-3·436), p < 0·001, corticosteroids OR 1·45, 95%CI (1·018-2·079), p = 0·039, Pitt-Score>1 OR 2·56, 95%CI (1·776-3·690), p < 0·001, and inadequate therapeutic management OR 2·84, 95%CI (1·685-4·800), p < 0·001. Being from Spain OR 0·51, 95%CI (0·359-0·726), p < 0·001 and C. parapsilosis OR 0·36, 95%CI (0·233-0·568), p < 0·001 were protective.
Higher mortality rates were observed in Brazil. Factors associated with 30-day mortality included mainly epidemiological characteristics and inadequate therapeutic management. Thus, effective and prompt antifungals combined with CVC-removal still need to be emphasized in order to improve the prognosis of adults with candidemia.
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 2017/02203-7); CAPES Foundation (PDSE 88881.187981/2018-01).
Valganciclovir (VGCV) and ganciclovir (GCV) doses must be adjusted according to indication, renal function and weight. No specific therapeutic exposure values have been established. We aimed to ...evaluate the adequacy of VGCV/GCV doses, to assess the interpatient variability in GCV serum levels, to identify predictive factors for this variability and to assess the clinical impact. This is a prospective study at a tertiary institution including hospitalized patients receiving VGCV/GCV prophylaxis or treatment. Adequacy of the antiviral dose was defined according to cytomegalovirus guidelines. Serum levels were determined using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. Blood samples were drawn at least 3 days after antiviral initiation. Outcome was considered favorable if there was no evidence of cytomegalovirus infection during prophylaxis or when a clinical and microbiological resolution was attained within 21 days of treatment and no need for drug discontinuation due to toxicity. Seventy consecutive patients 74.3% male/median age: 59.2 years were included. VGCV was used in 25 patients (35.7%) and GCV in 45 (64.3%). VGCV/GCV initial dosage was deemed adequate in 47/70 cases (67.1%), lower than recommended in 7/70 (10%) and higher in 16/70 (22.9%). Large inter-individual variability of serum levels was observed, with median trough levels of 2.3 mg/L and median peak levels of 7.8 mg/L. Inadequate dosing of VGCV/GCV and peak levels lower than 8.37 or greater than 11.86 mg/L were related to poor outcome. Further studies must be performed to confirm these results and to conclusively establish if VGCV/GCV therapeutic drug monitoring could be useful to improve outcomes in specific clinical situations.
pneumonia (PJP) in immunocompromised patients entails high mortality and requires adequate laboratory diagnosis. We compared the performance of a real time-PCR assay against the immunofluorescence ...assay (IFA) in the routine of a large microbiology laboratory. Different respiratory samples from HIV and non-HIV-infected patients were included. The retrospective analysis used data from September 2015 to April 2018, which included all samples for which a
test was requested. A total of 299 respiratory samples were tested (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (
= 181), tracheal aspirate (
= 53) and sputum (
= 65)). Forty-eight (16.1%) patients fulfilled the criteria for PJP. Five positive samples (10%) had only colonization. The PCR test was found to have a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of 96%, 98%, 90% and 99%, compared to 27%, 100%, 100% and 87%, for the IFA, respectively. PJ-PCR sensitivity and specificity were >80% and >90% for all tested respiratory samples. Median cycle threshold values in definite PJP cases were 30 versus 37 in colonized cases (
< 0.05). Thus, the PCR assay is a robust and reliable test for the diagnosis PJP in all respiratory sample types. Ct values of ≥36 could help to exclude PJP diagnosis.
Computed tomography (CT) findings can be used to classify invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in 2 patterns: airway-invasive (AIR) or angioinvasive (ANG).
AIR-IPA was considered when the CT ...revealed peribronchial consolidation or a tree-in-bud pattern and ANG-IPA when a nodule, cavity, halo sign, infarct-shaped, or mass-like consolidation was found. We evaluated the correlation among IPA patterns on CT and outcomes in heart transplant (HT) recipients.
The study included 27 HT recipients with a CT scan performed at the time of IPA diagnosis. The study interval was from 1988 to 2011. Ten AIR-IPA patients (37.1%) were compared with 17 ANG-IPA patients (62.9%). During the post-transplantation period before IPA developed, AIR patients required hemodialysis more frequently (40% vs 5.9%, p = 0.04). AIR patients also had more intercurrent bacterial pneumonia (23.5% vs 70%, p < 0.001), and IPA was diagnosed later after onset of symptoms (2.7 vs 8.5 d, p = 0.09). After diagnosis, AIR-IPA patients required more mechanical ventilation (23.5% vs 90%, p < 0.01) and had a higher related mortality rate (23.5% vs 70%, p = 0.04).
Our study shows that the AIR pattern represents 37% of IPA episodes in HT recipients and is associated with a more protracted clinical presentation, later diagnosis, and higher mortality rate.
Infective endocarditis (IE) complicating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a poorly known entity. Although current guidelines do not recommend IE antibiotic prophylaxis (IEAP) in HCM, controversy ...remains.This study sought to describe the clinical course of a large series of IE HCM and to compare IE in HCM patients with IE patients with and without an indication for IEAP.Data from the GAMES IE registry involving 27 Spanish hospitals were analyzed. From January 2008 to December 2013, 2000 consecutive IE patients were prospectively included in the registry. Eleven IE HCM additional cases from before 2008 were also studied. Clinical, microbiological, and echocardiographic characteristics were analyzed in IE HCM patients (n = 34) and in IE HCM reported in literature (n = 84). Patients with nondevice IE (n = 1807) were classified into 3 groups: group 1, HCM with native-valve IE (n = 26); group 2, patients with IEAP indication (n = 696); group 3, patients with no IEAP indication (n = 1085). IE episode and 1-year follow-up data were gathered.One-year mortality in IE HCM was 42% in our study and 22% in the literature. IE was more frequent, although not exclusive, in obstructive HCM (59% and 74%, respectively). Group 1 exhibited more IE predisposing factors than groups 2 and 3 (62% vs 40% vs 50%, P < 0.01), and more previous dental procedures (23% vs 6% vs 8%, P < 0.01). Furthermore, Group 1 experienced a higher incidence of Streptococcus infections than Group 2 (39% vs 22%, P < 0.01) and similar to Group 3 (39% vs 30%, P = 0.34). Overall mortality was similar among groups (42% vs 36% vs 35%, P = 0.64).IE occurs in HCM patients with and without obstruction. Mortality of IE HCM is high but similar to patients with and without IEAP indication. Predisposing factors, previous dental procedures, and streptococcal infection are higher in IE HCM, suggesting that HCM patients could benefit from IEAP.
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