Introduction
Prosthetic valve endocarditis is not uncommon and accounts for about 30% of all the cases of infective endocarditis (1,2). Its incidence after aortic valve replacement is estimated at 0.57% per person-year (3), and it is often associated with systemic and local cardiovascular complications. Surgical correction is usually indicated in these cases, but a reoperation is generally performed in only half of the patients (4-6). Surgical treatment carries high in-hospital mortality rate (7,8) and this is particularly evident in patients who had undergone Bentall procedure (9,10,11). On the other hand, medical therapy has been associated with a worse early outcome in patients with infective endocarditis who presented a theoretical indication for surgery (4,12). The aim of our study is to review our results in the treatment of patients who were admitted with infective endocarditis of a composite aortic valve graft conduit after a Bentall procedure.