RT Book, Section A1 Camitta, Michael G. W. A1 Geme III, Joseph W. St. A1 Li, Jennifer S. A2 Shah, Samir S. SR Print(0) ID 6907099 T1 Chapter 37. Endocarditis T2 Pediatric Practice: Infectious Disease YR 2009 FD 2009 PB The McGraw-Hill Companies PP New York, NY SN 978-0-07-148924-9 LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6907099 RD 2024/03/29 AB Infective endocarditis (IE) denotes infection of the endocardial surface of the heart and implies the physical presence of microorganisms in the lesion. Although the heart valves are most commonly affected, the disease may also occur within the heart in the location of congenital septal defects or on the endocardial surface in areas of turbulent flow. Extracardiac infections of arteriovenous or arterioarterial shunts (patent ductus arteriosus), infection related to structural aortic arch anomalies, and infections of prosthetic materials such as vascular occluders and stents can also be included in this definition of similar clinical manifestations. Unfortunately, variability in the clinical presentation continues to make the diagnosis of IE clinically challenging. The Duke criteria for the diagnosis of IE have been developed1 and modified.2 These criteria have been validated in multiple studies and shown to be superior to other criteria for the diagnosis of IE in the pediatric population.3–5