Valvulitis: a new echocardiographic criterion for the diagnosis of bioprosthetic aortic valve infective endocarditis.

Autor: Zulet P; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: pazulet@hotmail.com., Vilacosta I; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV), Spain., Pozo E; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., García-Arribas D; Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain., Pérez-García CN; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain; Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Madrid, Spain., Carnero M; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., Pérez-Camargo D; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., Montero L; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., Saiz-Pardo M; Servicio de Anatomía Patológica, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., Mahía P; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., Jerónimo A; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., Islas F; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., Gómez D; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., San Román JA; Instituto de Ciencias del Corazón (ICICOR), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain., de Agustín JA; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain., Olmos C; Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain; Universidad Europea de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Jazyk: English; Spanish; Castilian
Zdroj: Revista espanola de cardiologia (English ed.) [Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed)] 2024 Oct; Vol. 77 (10), pp. 859-867. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Mar 22.
DOI: 10.1016/j.rec.2024.03.002
Abstrakt: Introduction and Objectives: Diffuse homogeneous hypoechoic leaflet thickening, with a wavy leaflet motion documented by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), has been described in some cases of prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) involving aortic bioprosthesis (AoBio-PVE). This echocardiographic finding has been termed valvulitis. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of valvulitis, precisely describe its echocardiographic characteristics, and determine their clinical significance in patients with AoBio-PVE.
Methods: From 2011 to 2022, 388 consecutive patients with infective endocarditis (IE) admitted to a tertiary care hospital were prospectively included in a multipurpose database. For this study, all patients with AoBio-PVE (n=86) were selected, and their TEE images were thoroughly evaluated by 3 independent cardiologists to identify all cases of valvulitis.
Results: The prevalence of isolated valvulitis was 12.8%, and 20.9% of patients had valvulitis accompanied by other classic echocardiographic findings of IE. A total of 9 out of 11 patients with isolated valvulitis had significant valve stenosis, whereas significant aortic valve regurgitation was documented in only 1 patient. Compared with the other patients with AoBio-PVE, cardiac surgery was less frequently performed in patients with isolated valvulitis (27.3% vs 62.7%, P=.017). In 4 out of 5 patients with valve stenosis who did not undergo surgery but underwent follow-up TEE, valve gradients significantly improved with appropriate antibiotic therapy.
Conclusions: Valvulitis can be the only echocardiographic finding in infected AoBio and needs to be identified by imaging specialists for early diagnosis. However, this entity is a diagnostic challenge and additional imaging techniques might be required to confirm the diagnosis. Larger series are needed.
(Copyright © 2024 Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE