Diagnosing pulmonic valve infective endocarditis with positron emission tomography-CT.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Infective endocarditis (IE) affects the pulmonic valve in less than 2% of cases. Not only is pulmonary valve IE rare, it is also challenging to visualise with commonly used imaging modalities. In this vignette, we present a 50-year-old patient with a history of repaired Tetralogy of Fallot who underwent a prolonged hospitalisation and extensive work up for fever of unknown origin. Although we suspected IE as the source of his fevers, he had persistently negative transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiograms. We were ultimately able to establish the diagnosis with the use of positron emission tomography-CT (PET-CT). Although PET-CT is not part of the traditional work up for IE, it can be a useful imaging modality when there is a high index of suspicion for IE with negative echocardiography findings.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Zietlow, K; Bazemore, TC; Parikh, KS

Published Date

  • February 1, 2016

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 2016 /

PubMed ID

  • 26833782

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC4746536

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1757-790X

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1136/bcr-2015-213491

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • England