Early Surgical Treatment of Valvular Endocarditis

Puntos clave

• To report the clinical outcomes of early surgical valve replacement prior to completing standard antibiotic courses in patients with severe, complicated bacterial endocarditis.
• Case series evaluating three patients (N=3) with acute valvular destruction caused by bacterial endocarditis.
• Operative valve replacement was performed prior to the completion of conventional prolonged antibiotic therapy due to hemodynamic collapse (n=2) or antimicrobial drug resistance (n=1).
• All three patients recovered successfully following early valve replacement, showing no post-surgical evidence of persistent infection or congestive heart failure.
• One patient subsequently underwent a successful left pneumonectomy for lung carcinoma six weeks after valve replacement.