Overview
- The POET‑II trial, presented at the European Society of Cardiology and published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Aug. 28, 2026, randomized 508 clinically stable patients with left‑sided endocarditis to response‑tailored or standard therapy.
- Investigators stopped antibiotics in the tailored group once patients met pathogen‑specific minimum treatment windows and predefined POET stabilization criteria.
- Tailored therapy reduced median antibiotic duration from 41 days to 26 days and increased median days alive without antibiotics at six months from 169 to 183.
- The tailored approach met noninferiority for the six‑month composite safety endpoint of death, unplanned cardiac surgery, or symptomatic embolic events, but had a higher relapse rate of 5.1% versus 1.6% in standard care; most relapses were treated by restarting antibiotics.
- Researchers estimate roughly half of patients with left‑sided endocarditis could be eligible for this strategy, a change that could lower side effects, cut costs, reduce selection for resistance, and improve patients’ time off antibiotics while guideline review and clinician adoption proceed.