Infective endocarditis: New perspectives on an old disease

Endocarditis remains a relatively common disease with potentially high morbidity and mortality. The risk of endocarditis remains high in patients with a prosthetic valve or congenital heart disease and in elderly patients with degenerative calcification of the aortic and mitral valves. Prompt diagnosis is dependent on clinical suspicion and transthoracic echocardiography. Judicious application of transesophageal echography may expedite appropriate pharmacologic and surgical therapy. This review presents newer antibiotic considerations and clinical and echocardiographic approaches to infectious endocarditis.