• Matthieu Pelletier-Galarneau, Gad Abikhzer, Francois Harel, and Vasken Dilsizian.
• Department of Medical Imaging, Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal, Université de Montréal, 5000 Bélanger, Montréal, Québec, H1T1C8, Canada. matthieu.pelletier-galarneau@icm-mhi.org.
• Curr Cardiol Rep. 2020 Jul 9; 22 (9): 93.

Purpose Of ReviewThe clinical and incremental value of functional imaging with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) for the diagnosis and management of patients with suspected native and prosthetic valve infective endocarditis (IE).Recent FindingsThe diagnosis of IE is challenging because of the highly variable clinical presentations, especially in the case of prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE). FDG PET/CT has been shown to play an important role for the diagnosis of PVE as a major Duke criterion. Whether FDG PET/CT could play a similar role in patients with suspected native valve endocarditis (NVE) is less well established. It is increasingly recognized that IE is a multisystem disorder, and identification of extra-cardiac manifestations on whole-body FDG PET/CT impacts management and prognosis of patients with IE. Finally, FDG PET/CT provides incremental prognostic value over other clinical and para-clinical parameters, enabling prediction of in-hospital mortality, IE recurrence, hospitalization, and new onset heart failure and embolic events. FDG PET/CT plays a key role in the investigation of patients with suspected IE, enabling detection of valvular infection and extra-cardiac manifestations of the infection which has important prognostic implications.

13 keywords...

hide…