Assessment and Management of Endocarditis Among People Who Inject Drugs in the General Hospital Setting

This article examines the long-term outcomes of endocarditis in patients who inject drugs; issues that arise during hospitalization; and management of opioid use disorder, acute pain, and ongoing outpatient treatment.

Hospitalizations related to infectious complications from injection drug use are increasing in the context of the opioid crisis. Unfortunately, these hospital encounters are infrequently used to initiate treatment for the underlying opioid use disorder, even though many patients are amenable to treatment initiation. Both buprenorphine and methadone can be utilized with good effect to manage not only opioid use disorder but also acute pain. Controversies exist over the ethics of surgical management for patients who relapse and require reoperation. The appropriate approach may be to ensure that all patients with endocarditis are offered evidence-based treatment for the underlying substance use disorder as soon as possible. In addition, the initiation of medication treatment should be paired with ongoing outpatient treatment, given the high rates of mortality and reinfection due to endocarditis among this population. There is growing evidence that outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy may be appropriate even among people who inject drugs.