Prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is associated with a high mortality during the early and midterm follow-up despite diagnostic and therapeutic improvements; its incidence is increasing and reaches 20-30% of all infective endocarditis episodes. In this review, changes in epidemiology, microbiology, diagnosis and therapy that have evolved in the past few years are analyzed. Staphylococci (both Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus) have emerged as the most common cause of PVE and are associated with a severe prognosis.

Infective endocarditis: outcome in surviving patients with intracardiac complications.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the outcome of 15 patients who survived infective endocarditis with abscesses and other intracardiac complications.

Methods: Abscesses were associated with native valve endocarditis in seven patients and prosthetic valve endocarditis in eight patients; fistulas were observed in three patients, and subaortic perforation in three patients. Sensitivity for the detection of abscesses was 42.