Three patients with valvular destruction secondary to bacterial endocarditis were treated by early valvular replacement. Operative intervention prior to completion of the conventional prolonged course of antibiotic therapy was necessitated by hemodynamic collapse in two patients and by drug resistance in a third patient. Six weeks after valve replacement in the patient in case 1, he successfully underwent left pneumonectomy for carcinoma of the lung. Following surgery, the three patients are doing well, with no evidence of infection or congestive heart failure.