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The endocarditis team: a review

Aoife Maher1,2,3, Larry M Baddour4, Sami El Dalati5

  • 1Department of Cardiology, Mater Private Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.

Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy
|June 25, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Establishing an endocarditis team (ET) significantly reduces mortality and improves diagnosis for infective endocarditis (IE) patients. This multidisciplinary approach enhances patient outcomes in complex IE cases.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Healthcare Management

Background:

  • Infective endocarditis (IE) presents diagnostic and management challenges, leading to high morbidity and mortality.
  • The 2015 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines recommend establishing an endocarditis team (ET) for IE management.
  • Evidence supporting the efficacy of ETs in improving patient care is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the evidence supporting the implementation of endocarditis teams (ETs) in managing infective endocarditis (IE).
  • To assess the impact of ETs on patient outcomes and quality of care for IE.

Main Methods:

  • A systematic review of nineteen before-and-after observational studies was conducted.
  • The studies included a total of 5,327 patients (3,069 before ET, 2,258 after ET).
  • No randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified.

Main Results:

  • Implementation of ETs was associated with a significant reduction in in-hospital mortality (20.9% to 16.3%).
  • The proportion of IE cases with unidentified organisms decreased significantly after ET introduction (23.8% to 9.8%).
  • Consistent observational evidence supports the effectiveness of ETs.

Conclusions:

  • Endocarditis teams (ETs) are effective in reducing mortality and improving diagnostic accuracy in infective endocarditis (IE) patients.
  • Despite limitations in study design, the consistent findings support widespread ET implementation.
  • Multidisciplinary models like ETs are biologically plausible and align with successful approaches in other complex diseases.
Abstract

Keywords:
Cardiac surgeryendocarditis teaminfective endocarditismortalitymultidisciplinary careoutcomes

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