Guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis of bacterial endocarditis in patients undergoing dental therapy

The objective of the present work was to know the guidelines of antibiotic prophylaxis in bacterial endocarditis used in different spanish health cent ers. A general dental practitioner asked orally in 50 Cardiology and/or Int ernal Medicine departments throughout Spain which prophylaxis should be adm inistered to a patient with a mitral Valve prosthesis before a dental extra ction. The results obtained showed that only 36 (72%) departments used the latest prophylactic guidelines recommended by the American Heart Associatio n or the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Among penicillin a llergic patients the antibiotic of choice was erythromycin (60%) followed b y clindamycin (28%), although administered at very different dosages (11 an d 3, respectively). Only in 44% of the surveyed departments did the guideli nes for allergic and non allergic patients correspond to the recommended pr otocol by the same study group. The controversy generated regarding the pro phylactic indications for bacterial endocarditis might partially account fo r the results obtained in this study.