[Echocardiography and new diagnostic criteria for infective endocarditis]

A review of made of clinical and echocardiographic features of infective endocarditis, emphasizing the contribution to new diagnostic criteria made by Duke University and analysing different studies about their sensitivity and specificity and their advantages over the classic von Reyn criteria. A short historical overview is also made and the importance of echocardiography, particularly the transesophageal approach, for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis and its complications is discussed, bearing in mind the new diagnostic criteria.