Rethinking the Routine: Are Repeat Blood Cultures Necessary After Completion of Infective Endocarditis Treatment?

2025/11/08 by Jean Regina, Nicoleta Ianculescu, G. Tzimas +5 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria #Bacterial Identification and Susceptibility Testing #Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis and Management

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/cid/ciaf617

openalex publication_date 2025/11/08 · openalex created_date 2025/11/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Among 598 infective endocarditis (IE) episodes, follow-up blood cultures within 14 days of antimicrobial treatment completion were performed in 135 (23%) cases and detected only 2 (1.5%) recurrences. This strategy failed to identify 8 (6%) additional IE recurrences diagnosed between days 15 and 120, underscoring its limited utility.

Citations

• Evaluation of Different Versions of the Duke Criteria for the Diagnosis of Infective Endocarditis Among Patients With Enterococcal Bacteremia; a Multicenter Study

Discussions

• European Guidelines: ✅ Repeat BCx in asymptomatic pts at end of therapy for IE 🇺🇸 Guidelines: ❌ Single center 🇨🇭 study of ~600 pts with IE shows limited utility I have not heard of this practic [bsky, 3 points, 1 comments]

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