JUAN CRESTANELLO: Welcome to the Cardiovascular Surgery Series, where I review the latest research in cardiovascular surgery from the Mayo Clinic in just two minutes. I am Dr. Juan Crestanello. I am a cardiac surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

In this study, we evaluated operations for endocarditis registered in the STS database from 2011 to 2018. We classify endocarditis as associated with drug use and as not associated with drug use. There were 35,000 operations for endocarditis during the study period. More than a third of those operations were associated with drug use.

The operations for drug use endocarditis increased almost three times during the study period. There was some regional variability in the United States, with the highest burden of endocarditis associated with drug-use in the Southeast, South Central, and South Atlantic regions, where more than 50% were associated with drug-use. Patients with drug use endocarditis were young and had few comorbidities.

But nonetheless, the risk-adjusted outcomes of mortality and morbidity were worse than for those with non-drug-associated endocarditis. This study highlights another social impact that the opioid epidemic had on the US population. Thank you for listening to the Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Surgery Series.