INFECTIVE ENDOCARDITIS

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a special disease for at least three reasons:- neither its incidence nor its mortality has decreased during the last three decades; despite significant progress in diagnostic and therapeutic means, its mortality remains high;- it is not a uniform disease: its presentations are very variable, depending on the initial clinical manifestations, pre-existing heart disease if any, the microorganism, the presence or absence of complications, and the characteristics of the patient; for this reason, IE requires a collaborative approach, involving the general practitioner, the cardiologist, the surgeon, the microbiologist, the infectious disease specialist and often other physicians (neurologists, neurosurgeons, radiologists, anatomopathologists...);- recommendations are most often based on expert opinion because there are almost no randomized trials.