title: Role of echocardiogram in decision making for surgery in endocarditis.
abstract: Infective endocarditis is a serious disease that carries significant morbidity and mortality. Adequate treatment is based on a high degree of clinical suspicion, accurate microbiologic diagnosis, and high-quality imaging. Echocardiography has been shown to be a fundamental tool for diagnosis and management. Currently accepted Duke criteria include blood cultures and echocardiography. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography play a critical role in the decision-making process, especially when surgical treatment is contemplated. Because infective endocarditis is considered a medical and surgical disease, and considering that the current rate of surgery is about 50%, echocardiography has definite value in preoperative diagnosis and surgical planning, intraoperative confirmation of lesions and quality of repair or replacement before and after cardiopulmonary bypass, and postoperative assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital Clinic-IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Villarroel 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain, cmestres@clinic.ub.es.
authors.forename: Carlos-A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mestres
authors.forename: Guillermina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fita
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Azqueta
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Miró