Multidrug-Resistant Organism Infections in Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

Multidrug-Resistant Organism Infections in Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices. Tex Heart Inst J. 2015 Dec;42(6):522-7 Authors: Donahey EE, Polly DM, Vega JD, Lyon M, Butler J, Nguyen D, Pekarek A, Wittersheim K, Kilgo P, Paciullo CA Abstract Left ventricular assist devices improve survival prospects in patients with end-stage heart failure; however, infection complicates up to 59% of implantation cases. How many of these infections are caused by multidrug-resistant organisms is unknown. We sought to identify the incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of multidrug-resistant organism infection in patients who have left ventricular assist devices. We retrospectively evaluated the incidence of multidrug-resistant organisms and the independent risk factors associated with them in 57 patients who had permanent left ventricular assist devices implanted at our institution from May 2007 through October 2011. Outcomes included death, transplantation, device explantation, number of subsequent hospital admissions, and number of subsequent admissions related to infection. Infections were categorized in accordance with criteria from the Infectious Diseases Council of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Multidrug-resistant organism infections developed in 18 of 57 patients (31.6%)-a high incidence. We found 3 independent risk factors: therapeutic goal (destination therapy vs bridging), P=0.01; body mass index, P=...
Source: Texas Heart Institute Journal - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Tex Heart Inst J Source Type: research