An association between aspirin use in human cases of infective endocarditis and reduced systemic embolism is shown in meta-analysis of observational studies

[Extract] Animal studies such as published recently in this journal [1] show benefits of antiplatelet agents in experimental models of Staphylococcus aureus infective endocarditis (IE). It is, therefore, important to consider how these experimental data translate into clinical practice. A number of human studies have considered this area, concentrating almost exclusively on long-term aspirin usage. We have performed a meta-analysis of these 9 published studies [2–10] to assess whether the data may provide a basis for future trials and possibly change Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines that recommend that aspirin should not be used in IE