The Clinical Impact of Implementation of a Multidisciplinary Endocarditis Team

Sami El-Dalati*, Daniel Cronin, James Riddell, Michael Shea, Richard L. Weinberg, Laraine Washer, Emily Stoneman, D. Alexander Perry, Suzanne Bradley, James Burke, Sadhana Murali, Christopher Fagan, Rishi Chanderraj, Paul Christine, Twisha Patel, Kirra Ressler, Shinichi Fukuhara, Matthew Romano, Bo Yang, George Michael Deeb

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Infectious endocarditis is associated with substantial in-hospital mortality of 15%-20%. Effective management requires coordination between multiple medical and surgical subspecialties, which can often lead to disjointed care. Previous European studies have identified multidisciplinary endocarditis teams as a tool for reducing endocarditis mortality. Methods: The multidisciplinary endocarditis team was formed in May 2018. The group developed an evidence-based algorithm for management of endocarditis that was used to provide recommendations for hospitalized patients over a 1-year period. Mortality outcomes were then retroactively assessed and compared to a historical control utilizing propensity matching. Results: Between June 2018 and June 2019 the team provided guideline-based recommendations on 56 patients with Duke Criteria–definite endocarditis and at least 1 American Heart Association indication for surgery. The historical control included 68 patients with definite endocarditis and surgical indications admitted between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. In-hospital mortality decreased significantly from 29.4% in 2014-2015 to 7.1% in 2018-2019 (P < .0001). There was a non-significant increase in the rate of surgical intervention after implementation of the team (41.2% vs 55.4%; P = 0.12). Propensity score matching demonstrated similar results. Conclusions: Implementation of a multidisciplinary endocarditis team was associated with a significant 1-year decrease in all-cause in-hospital mortality for patients with definite endocarditis and surgical indications, in the presence of notable differences between the 2 studied cohorts. In conjunction with previous studies demonstrating their effectiveness, these data support the idea that widespread adoption of endocarditis teams in North America could improve outcomes for this patient population.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)118-124
Number of pages7
JournalAnnals of Thoracic Surgery
Volume113
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2022

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge Elizabeth O'Donnell, PhD, who reviewed an earlier draft of the manuscript.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
  • Surgery

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