Background:

Infective endocarditis continues to be a life-threatening condition, can involve every organ system, with high mortality, attributable mainly to Staphylococcus aureus. It implies a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, which requires multidisciplinary care.

Objective:

To describe the clinical and microbiological characteristics in patients with infectious endocarditis.

Materials and method:

Descriptive observational study, based on the review of medical records in a reference medical center in Medellín, Colombia. Including patients over 18 years hospitalized during the period from January 2011 to February 2017.

Results:

130 patients, with an average age of 53 years (± 16). Hypertension and chronic kidney disease was the most common comorbidity (55% and 38%, respectively). Fever was the cardinal symptom (90%). Native valve infective endocarditis predominated (85.7%), mainly affecting the mitral valve (40%). The most frequent etiologic agent was Staphylococcus aureus (oxacillin sensitive 44%), embolism was the main complication by 52.5% followed by heart failure (30.8%). In-hospital mortality was 39.2%.

Conclusions:

Infective endocarditis has varied clinical manifestations, including systemic embolism and acute heart failure, which lead to high mortality (higher than that reported in other studies). The most frequent microbiological isolation is bacterial, mainly Staphylococcus aureus, as shown by the global trend.

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