Infective endocarditis in infants and children during the past 10 years: A decade of change

Infective endocarditis (IE) is closely associated with congenital heart diseases.^1-9 In major series done over several decades up to the early 1970s^2,6 and in a recent review⁸ both the changing pattern of etiologic agents and the increasing incidence of IE overal has been stressed. In the last decade, the practice of pediatric cardiology has changed greatly. New diagnostic methods such as M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) have been developed. The rate of survival, particularly that of infants and of children with complex heart diseases, has greatly increased, coincident with improved surgery and intensive care of severely ill infants and children. Advances have also occurred in the antibiotic armamentarium. With these multiple recent developments it was questioned whether a change might have also taken place in the pattern of IE. Few reviews, however, dealing with the pattern of pediatric IE over the last decade are available.^8-10 This report is a review of our experience in diagnosis and treatment of pediatric IE during the last decade (1972 to 1982).