Tooth Extraction Prior to Cardiac Surgery May Not Be a Good Idea

People with an infected or abscessed tooth are at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease. They are at particular risk for developing a serious infection during surgery, including endocarditis, a potentially life-threatening infection of the heart. Because of this risk, in order to reduce the chance of infection, many patients undergo dental extraction prior to having…

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Study Sheds Light on Cardiac Device Infective Endocarditis

A new study sheds light on a rare but highly dangerous complication associated with device implants: cardiac device infective endocarditis (CDIE). Approximately 10-23% of device infections result in CDIE, leading, in one estimate, to an overall rate of 1.14 cases per 1,000 device-years. In a paper published in JAMA, Eugene Athan and colleagues analyzed data from 3,284…

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