Infective endocarditis at the University Hospital of the West Indies. A postmortem evaluation

Thirty cases of infective endocarditis identified in the autopsy service of the University Hospital over a 10-year period are reviewed. The mean age of the patients was 30.6 years, and 70% were below the age of 40 years. Sixty per cent of the cases had previous heart disease of which rheumatic heart disease was the most common. Degenerative heart disease and floppy mitral valve contributed one case each. The mitral valve was most commonly affected, and there were only 2 cases of right-sided endocarditis. Evidence of systemic embolization was present in 83% of the patients. The results of this study are compared with others from both developed and under-developed countries.