ENDOCARDITE INFECCIOSA

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.94523181211

• Palavras-chave: Endocardite; antibióticos; critérios de Duke-ISCVID

• Keywords: Endocarditis; antibiotics; Duke-ISCVID criteria

• Abstract: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a disease with high morbidity and mortality and a growing global incidence. Its diagnosis is a major challenge in clinical medicine given its varied range of clinical manifestations, being compared to syphilis as the “great imitator” by many researchers. By definition, IE refers to an infectious process of the endocardium, the cardiac leaflet in which the heart valves rest, membranous structures whose function is to prevent blood reflux into the ventricles after the blood has been pumped into the systemic or pulmonary circulation. Heart valves are subdivided into atrioventricular (AV): mitral and tricuspid; and semilunar: aortic and pulmonary; with the mitral and aortic valves, in that order, being the most affected in IE in the general population. In 2019, there were an estimated 66,000 deaths from IE worldwide, a disease responsible for an incidence of approximately 13 cases per 100,000 people per year. Adult men, with an average age of 50 years old, are the population most affected by IE in Brazil.