Abstract
Transesophageal echocardiography continues to have a central role in the diagnosis of infective endocarditis and its sequelae. Recent technological advances offer the option of 3-dimensional imaging in the evaluation of patients with infective endocarditis. We present an illustrative case and review the literature regarding the potential advantages and limitations of 3-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis of complicated infective endocarditis. A 51-year-old man, an intravenous drug user who had undergone bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement 5 months earlier, presented with prosthetic valve endocarditis. Preoperative transesophageal echocardiography with 3D rendition revealed a large abscess involving the mitral aortic intervalvular fibrosa, together with a mycotic aneurysm that had ruptured into the left atrium, resulting in a left ventricle-to-left atrium fistula. Threedimensional transesophageal echocardiography enabled superior preoperative anatomic delineation and surgical planning. We conclude that 3-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography can be a useful adjunct to traditional 2-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography as a tool in the diagnosis of infective endocarditis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 372-376 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Texas Heart Institute Journal |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 3 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Abscess/ ultrasonography
- Echocardiography, threedimensional/ methods
- Echocardiography, transesophageal
- Endocarditis, bacterial/complications/ diagnosis/therapy/ ultrasonography
- Image enhancement/methods
- Imaging, three-dimensional/methods
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine