Cutibacterium acnes infective endocarditis- An emerging pathogen

The study aimed to review a multicenter experience of patients undergoing surgical intervention for infective endocarditis caused by Cutibacterium acnes and to analyze the diagnostic challenges and operative results. We retrospectively reviewed 8812 patients undergoing cardiac surgery for endocarditis at 12 cardiac surgical departments across Germany. The overall population was divided based on the type of endocarditis (ie, native and prosthetic valve endocarditis). Primary outcomes were in-hospital mortality, 1- and 5-year survival. C. acnes caused endocarditis in 269 patients (3.1%). Median age was 65 years (54-72 years) and 237(88.1%) were male. We observed significantly higher rates of native valve endocarditis in patients aged 21-40, whereas prosthetic valve endocarditis was more frequent in all other age groups (p