Infective endocarditis: applying new guidelines in clinical practice - interactive cases

Speaker: Prof. Gilbert Habib

Moderator: Dr Isidro Vilacosta

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Learning objectives

1-To know the new epidemiologic profile of infective endocarditis and its consequences on prophylaxis and prevention
2- To know the value of echocardiography, but also other imaging techniques in the evaluation of patients with suspected or confirmed infective endocarditis
3- To know the indications and timing of surgery in infective endocarditis, as described in the European guidelines
4- To know the main complications of infective endocarditis and their therapeutic implications
5- To know the clinical presentation and specific clinical and therapeutic features of specific forms of infective endocarditis (cardiac device-related infective endocarditis, prosthetic valve endocarditis, right heart endocarditis,…)

Content of the course

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a serious disease with an incidence ranging from 30 to 100 episodes/million patient-years and a high mortality rate.

The recent guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology provide new recommendations on IE prevention, diagnosis and surgical indications.

- Important changes in the epidemiological profile of IE have occurred over the past few decades, including increasing number of health-care related cases, justifying the modification of the preventive strategies.

- Diagnosis of IE is frequently difficult, particularly in some subgroups (prosthetic valve IE, intracardiac device IE). Although echocardiography and blood cultures are the cornerstone of diagnosis of IE, other imaging techniques are sometimes useful. 

- The treatment of IE relies on the combination of prolonged antimicrobial therapy and - in about half patients - surgical eradication of the infected tissues. Indications and timing of surgery are frequently challenging.

In this webinar, using interactive clinical cases, the application of the guidelines in clinical practice will be presented, in the 3 fields of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Perspectives and future directions in the management of IE will also be discussed.

Key references

1- Habib G, Hoen B, Tornos P, et al. Guidelines on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infective endocarditis (new version 2009): the Task Force on the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Infective Endocarditis of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Eur Heart J  2009; 30: 2369-413.

2- Thuny F, Grisoli D, Collart F, et al. Management of infective endocarditis: challenges and perspectives. Lancet. 2012 ;379:965-75