RESUMEN
Prosthetic valve endocarditis [PVE] is a serious complication of valve surgery. The aim of this study is to determine the diagnostic and therapeutic management for PVE. It's a retrospective study about 14 cases of PVE operated in the department of cardiovascular surgery of la Rabta hospital between January 1996 and December 2006. In two cases, surgery was performed emergently, in the remnant cases surgery was elective. The coagulase-negative staphylococcus [CNS] is the predominant cause of these PVE. Surgery consisted on seven mitral prosthesis replacements and seven aortic prosthesis replacements. Hospital mortality was 50%. In conclusion attention should he made to prevent endocarditis when possible. In case of PVE, an early diagnosis leads to eavlier application of appropriate therapies and improved outcome