Dear Colleagues,

Over the past decades, the incidence of endocarditis has risen, in part due to the increase in prevalence of intravascular devices and increase in intravenous drug use. The use of surgery has increased and outcomes have steadily improved. Despite the advancements, endocarditis still carries a high mortality. New antibiotic treatments and therapeutic interventions have been added to the armamentarium for the management of endocarditis. Surgeons, now often part of a multidisciplinary team, play a major role in the decisions and outcomes of these patients.

This Special Issue “Surgical Management of Endocarditis” aims to collect high-quality original research papers and comprehensive reviews on recent advances in relation to the interventional and surgical treatment of endocarditis. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Trends in indications of surgery for infective endocarditis
• Management of right-sided endocarditis
• Surgery for complex left-sided endocarditis
• Prosthetic valve endocarditis
• Challenges in patients requiring surgery for endocarditis
• Novel surgical techniques and challenging cases
• Ethical dilemmas in management of recurrent endocarditis
• Multidisciplinary approach to infective endocarditis

Dr. Alexandros N. Karavas
Guest Editor