Management in Cardiovascular Endo-Infections

Dear Colleagues,

Infectious diseases remain one of the most significant healthcare problems and significantly impact the cardiovascular system. Throughout history, bacterial, viral, and fungal infections have been recognized as significant causes of heart disease. Globally, the number of interventional procedures and endovascular catheterizations for structural heart disease or other indications has steadily increased over the past two decades. An infection may occur among these patients as a potential consequence of the invasive cardiovascular procedures, or as a result of the different prosthetic materials used, whether intracardiac or endovascular, which are difficult to keep sterile.

An infection may occur at the site of access, either vascular or subcutaneous, for cardiac implantable electronic devices or in a cardiac structure. Despite their rarity, endovascular infections, including endocarditis on native valves, cardiac prostheses, conduits, cardiac devices, or long-life catheter-related infections used for oncologic patients or in dialysis, can be difficult to diagnose and potentially catastrophic.

Typically, treatment entails the prolonged administration of parenteral antibiotics as well as surgical intervention. Although the incidence is low, the outcome remains poor despite improved diagnostic and treatment strategies. There has been an improvement in the diagnosis and timing of endocarditis surgery due to the work of experts in endocarditis centers and teams. Nevertheless, the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients are changing rapidly due to the aging population and the global development and implantation of percutaneous cardiac devices. Therefore, clinicians require studies that address optimal diagnosis and therapeutic strategies in both children and adults.

A wide range of patients present with associated community-acquired or nosocomial infections. Once established on the surface of a valve, bacterial infections are difficult or impossible to eradicate and are associated with a high mortality rate. There is a need for therapeutic management of these patients in terms of prevention and treatment.

This Special Issue in Life is dedicated to exploring recent scientific advances in understanding the impact of cardiovascular endo-infections on patients undergoing various interventional, surgical, and electrophysiological procedures.

Dr. Corina Maria Vasile
Dr. Eliza Elena Cintezǎ
Dr. Radu Gabriel Vătăşescu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• infections
• interventional cardiology
• cardiac device
• percutaneous valve procedures
• infective endocarditis
• antibiotic treatments
• microorganisms
• prophylaxis