title: Infective endocarditis or myxoma? Description of a patient with new diagnosis of congestive heart failure.
abstract: Infective endocarditis (IE) is an inflammatory disease which interests heart endothelium and mostly heart valves. IE is not a uniform disease, but presents in a variety of different forms that makes the diagnosis difficult. Echocardiography is a crucial diagnostic tool for the diagnosis, especially in those patients who have no typical symptoms as in the case here presented, in which the possibility of a myxoma was also considered.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Rehabilitation-Heart Failure Unit, Ospedale SS Trinita' Fossano, Italy.
authors.forename: Marzia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Testa
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lombardo
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Avogadri
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agostini
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Forte
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Piccolo
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Feola
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D004696:Endocarditis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000473:pathology; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D009232:Myxoma / Q000175:diagnosis*