Imaging Detects Cardiac Abnormalities in Endocarditis

Computed tomography effective when compared with echocardiography and surgical specimens

30 jan 2009-- Multislice computed tomography (CT) is effective in detecting valvular abnormalities in patients with suspected infective endocarditis compared with transesophageal echocardiography and surgical specimens, researchers report in the Feb. 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Gudrun M. Feuchtner, M.D., from Innsbruck Medical University in Austria, and colleagues compared the value of multislice CT, transesophageal echocardiography and intraoperative findings for the assessment of valvular abnormalities in 37 patients with suspected infective endocarditis.

The researchers found that evident valvular abnormalities were detected by multislice CT with 97 percent sensitivity and 88 percent specificity, with a positive predictive value of 97 percent and a negative predictive value of 88 percent compared with transesophageal echocardiography. Vegetations, abscesses and pseudoaneurysms were detected by CT and transesophageal echocardiography with similar accuracy, the report indicates. Compared with surgical specimens, multislice CT identified 96 percent of patients with valvular vegetations and 100 percent of patients with abscesses or pseudoaneurysms, the authors note.

"Multislice CT shows good results in detecting valvular abnormalities in infective endocarditis and could be applied in pre-operative planning and exclusion of coronary artery disease before surgery," Feuchtner and colleagues conclude.

Abstract
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