Infective endocarditis

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a disease of protean manifestations and constantly changing nature. Its presentation, natural history, bacteriology, complications, and therapy have evolved since Osler's classic reports in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Morbidity in patients with IE is the result of valvular destruction with resultant regurgitation, release of emboli and seeding of metastatic infection from vegetations, and production of immune complexes. Mortality is largely the result of heart failure, although embolic phenomena account for a substantial minority of deaths. Recent investigations in patients with IE have centered on changing natural history and prognosis, bacteriology, diagnosis, and therapy.