About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Endocarditis is an infection of the inner lining of your heart (endocardium).
Endocarditis typically occurs when bacteria or other germs from another part of your body, such as your mouth, spread through your bloodstream and attach to damaged areas in your heart. Left untreated, endocarditis can damage or destroy your heart valves and can lead to life-threatening complications. Treatments for endocarditis include antibiotics and, in severe cases, surgery.
Endocarditis is uncommon in people with healthy hearts. People at greatest risk of endocarditis have a damaged heart valve, an artificial heart valve or other heart defects.
- Infective endocarditis. American Heart Association. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/CongenitalHeartDefects/TheImpactofCongenitalHeartDefects/Infective-Endocarditis_UCM_307108_Article.jsp. Accessed June 6, 2011.
- Endocarditis. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/endo/endo_all.html. Accessed June 19, 2009.
- Sexton DJ. Diagnostic approach to infective endocarditis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 2, 2011.
- Sexton DJ. Epidemiology, risk factors and microbiology of infective endocarditis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 2, 2011.
- Spelman D, et al. Complications and outcome of infective endocarditis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 2, 2011.
- Sexton DJ. Antimicrobial therapy of native valve endocarditis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 2, 2011.
- Schick EC. Surgery for native valve endocarditis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 2, 2011.
- Delahaye F. Is early surgery beneficial in infective endocarditis? A systematic review. Archives of Cardiovascular Disease. 2011:104:35.
- Burton MJ, et al. Infective endocarditis prevention: Update on 2007 guidelines. The American Journal of Medicine. 2007;11:484.
Find Mayo Clinic on