Surgery of active-phase infective endocarditis: report of 13 cases

Infective endocarditis is always a disease at the present time. In this work we report our initial experience of infective endocarditis surgical treatment during the acute phase. Between September 1993 and December 1997, 13 patients underwent valvular surgery for native infective endocarditis. Mean age was 31 +/- 11 years (range: 9 to 42 years); 92.3% of the patients presented with pre-existing rheumatical valvular lesion. Surgical indication was the occurrence of heart failure in all these patients. Surgery consisted on aortic valvular replacement in four patients, mitral and aortic valvular replacement in nine patients. Tricuspid valvuloplasty was required in two patients. Early mortality was 15% (two patients). A third patient developed cardiac failure and died three years postoperatively. This work emphasises the interest of the surgical treatment in the active phase of the infective endocarditis.