A Multidisciplinary Pathway for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Endocarditis

Clinical pathways can be useful when disparate clinical-pathologic groups converge on a common diagnostic and therapeutic trajectory. The progressive increase in the incidence of endocarditis in the US has included higher-risk subjects whose candidacy for aggressive cardiac surgical intervention may be highly resource-intensive, prohibitively high risk, or delayed and possibly deferred by comorbidities. We sought to define the sequence, application, and resolution of multidisciplinary endocarditis team decision-making in 4 distinct clinical groups.