Infective endocarditis (IE) is a frequent and serious complication of implanted intracardiac prosthetic material, with a high morbidity and mortality. The number of procedures where prosthetic material is implanted in the heart increases, as do the age and comorbidity of treated subjects. In current clinical practice diagnosis of infected intracardiac prosthetic material is often difficult because of the lack of sensitivity of the available diagnostic armamentarium for IE.