Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Infective Endocarditis

Infective endocarditis (IE) is described as an inflammation of the endocardial surface of the heart and may include heart valves, mural endocardium, or the endocardium that covers implanted material such as prosthetic valves, pacemaker/defibrillator leads, and catheters. In many instances, the inflammation is associated with a bacterial or fungal infection. Streptococci, staphylococci, and enterococci are the most frequent causative pathogens, and rarely IE can also be related to noninfective immunological causes (e.g., Libman-Sacks endocarditis) or cardiac tumors.