Surgical intervention of infective endocarditis

: 33 patients with infective endocarditis were treated from 1980 to 1989. 31 of them were operated on for primary endocarditis complicated by congenital heart disease (5 patients) and valvular heart disease (26 patients). Two patients (6.5%) died postoperatively and 2 patients with primary endocarditis complicated by aortic insufficiency died without operation. In 10 patients with endocarditis secondary to open-heart surgery, 6 were reoperated upon but 5 of them died; in the remaining 4 who were not reoperated on died. We consider that surgical intervention for endocarditis, either primary or postoperative, should be taken as early as possible after a short period of ineffectiveness of antibiotic therapy.