Nationwide cohort study of tricuspid valve repair versus replacement for infective endocarditis

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of tricuspid valve (TV) repair versus replacement for patients with infective endocarditis (IE). METHODS: In this nationwide population-based cohort study, we identified 704 patients from Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database who underwent TV surgery due to IE between 2000 and 2013. Of them, 412 (58.5%) underwent TV repair and 292 (41.5%) underwent TV replacement, and their perioperative and late outcomes were analysed. Confounding was reduced using the inverse probability of treatment weighting on propensity score. RESULTS: After inverse probability of treatment weighting, the in-hospital mortality rate between the 2 groups was not significantly different. However, patients who received TV repair had lower rates of perioperative complications, including massive blood transfusion, de novo dialysis and deep wound infection; longer ICU and hospital stays; and higher hospital cost. Regarding late outcomes, TV repair was associated with lower risks of all-cause readmission [subdistribution hazard ratio (HR) 0.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.60-0.78; P 0.001], readmission for adverse liver outcomes (subdistribution HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.58-0.97; P = 0.025), new permanent pacemaker implantation (subdistribution HR 0.27, 95% CI 0.15-0.48; P 0.001) and all-cause mortality (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.51-0.71; P 0.001) than TV replacement. CONCLUSIONS: For IE, TV repair is associated with better early and late outcomes than TV replacement. A repair-first strategy is recommended for patients with IE for whom TV surgery is indicated.