Mori M, et al. - As cardiac surgery for prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE), due to its complex nature, is associated with a mortality of 20% and the operative outcome is likely strongly susceptible to the surgeon’s experience and centre case volume, researchers here compared patients with PVE with those with native valve endocarditis (NVE) in terms of operative outcomes and mid-term survival at a tertiary care hospital. They retrospectively reviewed 188 consecutive patients (146 NVE and 42 PVE) undergoing cardiac surgery for endocarditis between 2011 and 2016 at a tertiary care hospital in the USA. Outcomes revealed a possible achievement of a low mortality rate with surgery for PVE with mid-term survival comparable with those of NVE. Hence, in case surgical expertise and experienced multidisciplinary team equipped to handle complex clinical scenarios are available, this complex patient population should not be declined of surgery on the bases of the diagnosis of PVE alone.