Surgery for tricuspid valve endocarditis: a selective approach

The authors report their 18-year experience in the surgical treatment of infective tricuspid endocarditis. Between January 1981 and January 1999, 238 cases of infective endocarditis were seen. with a tricuspid involvement in 21 cases (8.8%). Tricuspid valve repair was performed in 9 patients with infective lesions involving one single leaflet. The surgical principle of the repair was to avoid any prosthetic material implantation. Posterior leaflet vegetectomy was performed in another 2 patients with infected intracavitary leads. Tricuspid valve replacement was performed in 10 patients with involvement of the whole valvular apparatus. One patient died of septic shock 3 days postoperatively. All the other patients had a good postoperative recovery. Follow-up ranged between 12 and 155 months (mean 68.9 +/- 55 months). Five cases of late mortality were observed: 3 for cardiac reasons and 2 of cancer. All the other patients are alive. Late postoperative echocardiography in the patients with tricuspid repair showed tricuspid regurgitation to be absent in 6 patients, mild in 2, moderate in 1, and severe in 1. No recurrent infections were observed either in patients with valve repair or in those with valve replacement. Good early and long-term results can be achieved in the surgical treatment of tricuspid endocarditis as long as complete excision of the infected tissue is performed and risk factors are controlled.