Splenic abscess is an uncommon but serious complication of infective endocarditis (IE). The timing of surgical management of splenic abscess can be challenging when valve surgery is required. The American Heart Association (AHA) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) currently recommends splenectomy before valve replacement due to fear of reinfection of the heart valve; however, published data to support this recommendation are limited. In this series, we report outcomes for 5 patients with IE and splenic abscess who underwent valve replacement first, followed by splenectomy at a median of 19 days (range: 10–77 days) after valve surgery, with no recurrent infection of the new valve. Our experience and review of the available literature provide reassurance for splenectomy after valve surgery for IE.

脾脓肿是感染性心内膜炎（IE）的罕见但严重的并发症。当需要进行瓣膜手术时，脾脓肿的外科治疗时机可能会很困难。美国心脏协会（AHA）和欧洲心脏病学会（ESC）当前建议在更换瓣膜前进行脾切除术，因为担心心脏瓣膜会被再次感染。但是，支持该建议的已发布数据是有限的。在本系列中，我们报告了5例IE和脾脓肿患者的结果，这些患者首先进行了瓣膜置换，然后在瓣膜手术后中位19天（范围：10-77天）进行了脾切除术，没有新瓣膜的反复感染。我们的经验和现有文献的回顾为IE瓣膜手术后的脾切除术提供了保证。