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Prosthetic valve endocarditis is a major diagnostic challenge in clinical practice, due to the lower sensitivity of the modified Duke criteria and a higher percentage of cases with negative or inconclusive echocardiography results. The delay in establishing medical and surgical treatment increases the morbidity/mortality rate. New imaging techniques and 18F-FDG PET/CT in particular have meant a significant advance in cases of high clinical suspicion and negative or inconclusive echocardiography, increasing the overall sensitivity of the modified Duke criteria. We report the case of a male patient with prosthetic valve endocarditis, where 18F-FDG PET/CT provided the diagnostic key, determining the origin of the endocarditis and avoiding treatment delay., (Copyright © 2018 Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To compare HRCT findings in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients chronically colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Staphylococcus aureus using the modified Bhalla CT scoring system, as well as to evaluate intraobserver and interobserver reliability of the method., Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study involving 41 CF patients, 26 of whom were chronically colonized with P. aeruginosa (Pa group), and 15 of whom were colonized with S. aureus (Sa group).Two independent radiologists evaluated the HRCT scans of these patients using the modified Bhalla CT scoring system in two different moments. Intraobserver and interobserver reliability was calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)., Results: There was good intraobserver and interobserver agreement (ICC > 0.8). Scores were higher in the Pa group than in the Sa group for observer 1 (mean, 13.50 ± 3.90; median, 13.5 vs. mean, 5.00 ± 5.28; median, 3.0) and for observer 2 (mean, 11.96 ± 5.07; median, 12.0 vs. mean, 5.07 ± 5.65; median, 5.0). In addition, HRCT findings, such as bronchiectasis, bronchial wall thickening, mucus plugging, generation of bronchial divisions, and mosaic attenuation/perfusion pattern, were more prevalent in the Pa group., Conclusions: The modified Bhalla CT scoring system was reproducible and reliable for use in the evaluation of HRCT scans, allowing distinctions to be drawn between the two groups of patients under study. The higher scores in the Pa group provided evidence of greater pulmonary impairment in that group.

Fever of unknown origin in elderly patients is a difficult diagnostic problem. Infective endocarditis is often not diagnosed in this group of patients, in whom other etiologies like cancer are considered first. The authors report a case in which an elderly woman with subacute mitral and tricuspid infective endocarditis was correctly diagnosed only after a peripheral embolism. Besides having multiple pulmonary and peripheral embolisms, she developed a left femoral mycotic aneurysm.

A female patient, 21 years old, was submitted to surgical treatment of severe aortic insufficiency. She was doing well until the 9th postoperative day, when she presented sepsis and an embolic cerebrovascular attack. The transesophageal echo-Doppler-cardiogram showed paraprosthetic abscess and vegetations, that were not seen on the transthoracic echo-Doppler-cardiogram performed one day before. We are convinced that the findings on the echocardiogram were very important for the good results obtained by the prompt surgical procedure.

After reporting a clinical case of a patient with a Staphylococcus Aureus Acute Endocarditis involving the aortic valve being complicated with cardiac failure irresponsive to medical treatment, which required a surgical procedure, the authors describe the preoperative echocardiography features. These features have the particularity of identifying a pseudoaneurysm rising in the outflow tract of the left ventricle, that involves the annulus and the anterior mitral leaflet, opening into the left atrium. They also take the opportunity to review the main local complications of Infective Endocarditis, affecting native or prosthetic valves, and make some comments on the diagnostic echocardiographic possibilities.