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Objective: The aim of this retrospective multicenter study was to investigate the clinical manifestations, microbiological profile, echocardiography findings and management strategies of infective endocarditis (IE) in Turkey. Methods: The study population consisted of 248 Turkish patients with IE treated at 13 major hospitals in Turkey from 2005 to 2012 retrospectively. All hospitals are tertiary referral centers, which receive patients from surrounding hospitals. Data were collected from the medical files of all patients hospitalized with IE diagnosed according to modified Duke Criteria. Results: One hundred thirty seven of the patients were males. Native valves were involved in 158 patients while in 75 participants there was prosthetic valve endocarditis. Vegetations were detected in 223 patients (89%) and 52 patients had multiple vegetations. Mitral valve was the most common site of vegetation (43%). The most common valvular pathology was mitral regurgitation. The most common predisposing factor was rheumatic valvular disease (28%). Positive culture rate was 65%. Staphylococci were the most frequent causative microorganisms isolated (29%) followed by enterococci (11%). In-hospital mortality rate was 33%. Conclusions: Compared to IE in developed countries younger age, higher prevalence of rheumatic heart disease, more frequent enterococci infection and higher rates of culture negativity were other important aspects of IE epidemiology in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the predictors of warfarin use in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). This study was the first to be conducted in a Turkish population. Materials and methods: Patients who presented to our outpatient clinic with the diagnosis of AF between September 2008 and October 2009 were enrolled. The patients were classified according to the CHADS2 risk scoring system recommended by the AHA/ACC/ESC guidelines for the classification of stroke risk in non-valvular AF patients. The probable variables influencing the use of warfarin were determined as age, sex, income level, healthcare coverage, lifestyle, place of residence, classification of AF, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, thyrotoxicosis, cardiac insufficiency, left ventricular dysfunction, stroke risk stratification, and history of stroke or systemic embolism (SE). Results: Among the 570 patients enrolled in the study, 144 were excluded because of insufficient patient information or refusal to participate, while 101 patients were excluded due to valvular AF. Thus, the evaluation was based on 325 patients (133 males and 192 females; mean age: 65 ± 10). According to the CHADS2 scoring, 62.2% of the patients were at high risk, 26.8% were at moderate risk, and 11.1% were at low risk. Only 19.7% of the patients were on warfarin treatment. In the logistic regression analysis, a history of stroke or SE, high income level, and the presence of persistent and permanent AF were found to be positive predictors of warfarin use, while advanced age was a negative predictor of warfarin use. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that a history of stroke or SE, high income level, presence of persistent and permanent AF, and advanced age are independent predictors of warfarin use in non-valvular AF patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection is one of the most devastating outcomes of cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation and is related to significant morbidity and mortality. In our country, there is no evaluation about CIED infection. Therefore, our aim was to investigate clinical characteristics and outcome of patients who had infection related to CIED implantation or replacement. The study included 144 consecutive patients with CIED infection treated at 11 major hospitals in Turkey from 2005 to 2014 retrospectively. We analyzed the medical files of all patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of CIED infection. Inclusion criteria were definite infection related to CIED implantation, replacement, or revision. Generator pocket infection, with or without bacteremia, was the most common clinical presentation, followed by CIED-related endocarditis. Coagulase-negative staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus were the leading causative agents of CIED infection. Multivariate analysis showed that infective endocarditis and ejection fraction were the strongest predictors of in-hospital mortality., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Background: Our aim was to investigate the clinical and prognostic features of the patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) in a multicenter nation-wide study., Methods: The present nation-wide study consisted of 75 consecutive patients with PVE treated at 13 major hospitals in Turkey from 2005 to 2012., Results: The patients who died during follow-up were significantly older than the survivors and had higher C-reactive protein (CRP), creatinine, poor NYHA functional class and large vegetations. High creatinine level (odds ratio [OR] 2.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14-6.13), poor functional status (OR 24.5; 95% CI 3.1-196.5) and high CRP (OR 1.02; 95% CI1.00-1.03) measured on admission were independent risk associates for in-hospital mortality., Conclusions: High creatinine level, poor functional status and high CRP measured on admission were independent risk associates for in-hospital mortality, whereas a NYHA class ofIII/IV and high CRP reflected independent risk for stroke/mortality end point.