Contemporary management of prosthetic valve endocarditis: principals and future outlook

Abstract

Infective endocarditis involving prosthetic valves accounts for 20% of all endocarditis cases. Rising in prevalence due to increasing placement of valvular prostheses, prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is more difficult to diagnose by conventional methods, associated with more invasive infection and increased mortality. This report explores the existing literature in identifying a direct approach to the management of PVE; such as adjuncts to establishing a diagnosis (for instance positron emission tomography/computed tomography and radiolabeled leukocyte scintigraphy), the trends in specific pathogens associated with PVE and the recommended antimicrobials for each. The patterns of disease requiring surgical intervention are also highlighted and explored. In addition, a 5-year outlook offers consolidated knowledge on epidemiological trends of both culprit organisms and population subgroups suffering (and projected to suffer) from PVE.