# Staphylococcal early-onset prosthetic valve endocarditis: a condition bound for surgery

## TL;DR

Staphylococcal early-onset prosthetic valve endocarditis has high in-hospital mortality, especially for Staphylococcus aureus cases, and surgery improves survival.

## Contribution

Identifies SAPVE as an independent risk factor for mortality and highlights the critical role of prosthetic valve replacement in improving survival.

## Key findings

- Staphylococcus aureus prosthetic valve endocarditis (SAPVE) had significantly higher in-hospital mortality (80%) compared to CoNS PVE (43%).
- Prosthetic valve replacement was associated with improved in-hospital survival (odds ratio 0.2).
- SAPVE was identified as an independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 10.2).

## Abstract

Early-onset prosthetic valve endocarditis (EO-PVE) is linked to poor in-hospital outcomes. Staphylococcus spp. poses a significant concern due to its higher mortality rates compared to other major infectious agents.

Provide a more detailed, comprehensive evaluation of the clinical characteristics and in-hospital mortality predictors related to staphylococcal EO-PVE.

This observational, retrospective, single-center study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Brazil from 1997 to 2019, spanning a 22-year period. A total of 105 consecutive cases of left-heart staphylococcal EO-PVE were analyzed.

There was a predominance of coagulase-negative staphylococci prosthetic valve endocarditis (CoNS PVE) over Staphylococcus aureus prosthetic valve endocarditis (SAPVE) (76% and 24%, respectively). Prosthetic valve replacement for EO-PVE treatment was performed in 73% of cases. In-hospital mortality was 49%, with SAPVE associated with a higher in-hospital mortality than CoNS PVE (80% versus 43%, p < 0.001). In-hospital mortality predictors identified by univariate analysis included older age (p < 0.001), aortic prosthetic endocarditis (p < 0.001), peri-annular abscess (p = 0.002), SAPVE (p < 0.001), NYHA functional class III/IV (p = 0.02), previous combined myocardial revascularization with valve replacement surgery (p = 0.02), left ventricular dysfunction (p < 0.001), leukocytosis (p = 0.02), and higher C-reactive protein levels (p = 0.006). In a multivariate analysis, SAPVE was identified as an independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality (odds ratio [OR] 10.2; p = 0.006), whereas prosthetic valve replacement was associated with improved in-hospital survival (OR 0.2; p = 0.04).

Staphylococcal EO-PVE is associated with increased in-hospital mortality, particularly in SAPVE cases. In this study, all non-operated SAPVE patients died primarily due to fulminant septic shock. Prosthetic valve replacement was significantly linked to in-hospital survival, and only 5.7% of the study population survived without cardiac surgical intervention.

Not applicable.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-025-11999-9.