Delgado, J. Fernández

ABSTRACT Background Large vegetations in cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) are associated with high mortality due to risks of major pulmonary artery obstruction. The rising incidence of CIEDs infections has complicated management, particularly in patients with delayed diagnoses. Current guidelines recommend open‐heart surgery for vegetations > 2.5 cm, but this approach poses significant risks for high‐morbidity patients. This study evaluates the feasibility and outcomes of percutaneous vacuum‐assisted aspiration using the AngioVac system in managing giant vegetations (≥ 4.0 cm) in patients unsuitable for open surgery. Materials and Methods Fourteen patients with giant vegetations (≥ 4.0 cm), undergoing transvenous lead extraction, were treated with the AngioVac system. The procedure involved large‐bore central venous cannulation and extracorporeal aspiration of vegetations. Outcomes assessed included procedural success, embolization management, and post‐extraction microbiological findings. Results The cohort included 64% males with a median age of 73 years. Vegetation sizes ranged from 4.0 to ≥ 7.0 cm. Most patients (79%) presented with advanced heart failure symptoms (NYHA class III/IV). Despite pulmonary embolism in 29% of cases, all were successfully managed with mechanical aspiration. The procedure achieved 100% complete removal of all leads and vegetations, with no perioperative mortality, and all patients were discharged alive. Conclusion Percutaneous aspiration using the AngioVac system is a safe and effective alternative to open‐heart surgery for high‐risk patients with giant vegetations. This minimally invasive approach demonstrates potential for broader application in managing high‐risk CIEDs infections, warranting further investigation in larger studies.

Background: Sepsis survivors experience substantial long-term cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. The pooled-cohort atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) score estimates 10-year risk in the general population, but its accuracy soon after sepsis is unknown. Objectives: (1) Describe the absolute five-year incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) after sepsis hospitalization. (2) Evaluate the discrimination and calibration of the 10-year ASCVD score for predicting five-year MACE in this setting. Research Questions: The ASCVD score would underpredict five-year MACE in sepsis survivors, reflecting their heightened risk. Methods: We performed a retrospective closed-cohort study using electronic health records from Mayo Clinic hospitals (USA). Adults aged 40–75 years hospitalized for sepsis between 2018 and 2020 were eligible if follow-up was ≥5 years; the age criterion matched the derivation range of the ASCVD score. The primary outcome was five-year MACE—myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, or CV death. Secondly we evaluated the predictive performance of ASCVD score for five-year MACE. Discrimination was assessed with the area under the receiver-operating curve (AUROC); calibration with Calibration-in-the-Large (CITL, ideal = 0) and slope (ideal = 1). Performance metrics were calculated in patients with complete ASCVD variables. Results: A total of 6306 sepsis admissions were screened. 2424 patients were excluded for age outside 40–75 years and 879 for <5 year follow-up, leaving 2718 patients for incidence analyses. Median age was 65 years (IQR 56–70); 55 % were male, 38 % required ICU care, and 91 % were White. Median body-mass index was 28.2 kg/m2 (IQR 23.7-34.7). During follow-up, 125 patients (4.6 %) had MI, 219 (8.1 %) experienced stroke, and 303 (11.1 %) died of CV causes; overall, 1573 patients (57.9 %) met the composite MACE outcome. Complete ASCVD data were available for 409 patients. In this subset, discrimination was moderate (AUROC 0.65; 95 % CI 0.59–0.71). Calibration showed CITL +0.34 (95 % CI 0.09–0.59) and slope 0.50 (95 % CI 0.28–0.72), indicating systematic infra-prediction and over-fitting, respectively. Conclusion: Five-year MACE incidence after sepsis is high. The 10-year ASCVD score moderately discriminates but underestimates five-year CV risk in this population, highlighting the need for sepsis-specific predictive models or recalibration to guide targeted post-sepsis cardiovascular prevention.