What research was conducted to update the AHA guidelines for the management of infective endocarditis?
The present AHA IE Writing Committee conducted comprehensive and focused reviews of the literature published between January 2005 and October 2013 to update the previous version of the guidelines. Literature searches of the PubMed/ MEDLINE databases were undertaken to identify pertinent articles. Searches were limited to the English language. The major search terms included endocarditis, infective endocarditis, infectious endocarditis, intracardiac, valvular, mural, infection, diagnosis, bacteremia, case definition, epidemiology, risks, demographics, injection drug use, echocardiography, microbiology, culture-negative, therapy, antibiotic, antifungal, antimicrobial, antimicrobial resistance, adverse drug effects, drug monitoring, outcome, meta-analysis, complications, abscess, heart failure, embolic events, stroke, conduction abnormalities, survival, pathogens, organisms, treatment, surgery, indications, valve replacement, valve repair, ambulatory care trials, and prevention.