PARENTERAL MEDICAL-TREATMENT OF INFECTIOU S ENDOCARDITIS IN NATIVE VALVES IN PATIENTS NON ADDICTED TO DRUGS

Infectious endocarditis is an infection that is characterized by the p resence of microorganisms in dense populations in vegetating lesions i n the endocardium. Because phagocyte penetration to the interior of th e vegetation is practically impossible, to cure infectious endocarditi s, high doses of bactericidal antibiotics are administered, usually in travenously and for a long duration. In this article, antibiotic treat ment is reviewed, depending on the isolated microorganism and in cases where necessary, treatment is initiated in an empirical manner. Once the microorganism was isolated, the recommended guidelines for antibio tic treatment have gone through some variations in recent years, due t o the changing pattern of antibiotic sensitivity of some microorganism s, to the point of finding ourselves on occasion without an effective treatment (e.g. multiresistant enterococci). In addition, these variat ions are due to the introduction of new antibiotics that allow, in spe cial cases, for the treatment to be administered on an outpatient basi s. Using anticoagulation in infectious endocarditis is still considere d controversial. In general, only patients having cardiac valvular pro stheses seem to benefit from its use.