Infective Endocarditis: At the Crossroads between Infectious Diseases and Cardiology

Abstract

Enllocartlitis is inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. It usually involves the heart valves. Other structures that may be involved include the interventricular septum, the chordae tendineae, the mural endocardium or the surfaces of intracardiac devices. lnfective endocarditis is a form of endocarditis caused by infectious agents, which are usually bacterial (other organisms can also be responsible). Before the age of modern antibiotics it was almost universally fatal. Although the epidemiology of infective endocarditis has changed over the last 50 years, with rheumatic heart disease becoming less common and degenerative valve disease more frequent, its incidence and associated mortality have remained relatively constant.