Prognostic assessment of valvular surgery in active infective endocarditis: multicentric nationwide validation of a new score developed from a meta-analysis.

Objectives: Several risk prediction models have been developed to estimate the risk of mortality after valve surgery for active infective endocarditis (IE), but few external validations have been conducted to assess their accuracy. We previously developed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of IE-specific factors for the in-hospital mortality rate after IE valve surgery, whose obtained pooled estimations were the basis for the development of a new score (APORTEI). The aim of the present study was to assess its prognostic accuracy in a nationwide cohort.

Which type of valve should we use in tricuspid position? Long-term comparison between mechanical and biological valves.

Background: Nowadays, tricuspid valve replacement (TVR) is much less common than aortic or mitral valve replacement, since repair is almost always preferable. Prosthetic tricuspid valves are associated with high mortality and morbidity, mostly due to thrombotic or hemorrhagic events. Nevertheless, there is lack of evidence of which is the optimal type of valve (biological versus mechanical) in tricuspid position.

Selecting the best site for pacing leads after cardiac surgery by evaluating the asynchrony of myocardial deformation observed with different pacing sites.

Introduction And Objectives: After cardiac surgery, temporary pacing leads are routinely implanted in the right ventricle (RV). The objective was to investigate the effect of different ventricular pacing locations on cardiac synchrony (by evaluating myocardial deformation, or strain) and efficiency in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Methods: Interventricular asynchrony (i.