From January/1983 to March/1988, 28 patients were submitted to valve replacements for prosthetic valve endocarditis in 1,512 valve replacements. Seventeen patients were male, their mean age was 36.7 +/- 12.9 years old, and eight cases were operated under emergency condition. The blood cultures were positive in 14 (50%), the agent most commonly found being Streptococcus viridans in 5 cases. Hospital mortality was 28.5%. The causes of death were septicemia in 4 cases, low output syndrome in 2 cases, cerebrovascular accident in 1 case, and coagulopathy in 1 case. Mortality was higher with statistical significance in the cases whose blood cultures were negative, the cases in which the time from valve replacement to the onset of endocarditis was less than one year, and the cases under emergency condition.