Perioperative and short-term results of the surgical treatment of infective endocarditis

Introduction Infective endocarditis is defined as the infection of the endocardial surface of the heart, which may include one or more heart valves or the mural endocardium. It results in severe valvular insufficiency, which may lead to congestive heart failure, and myocardial abscesses. One of the most feared complications is thromboembolism, through infected emboli. The purpose of this paper is to assess the perioperative and short term results of the IInd Cardiovascular Surgery Department in the treatment of infective endocarditis during a three year period, from January the first, 2002 to September the first, 2005.