title: Healed perivalvular abscess: Incidental finding on transesophageal echocardiography [corrected].
abstract: A 36-year-old male patient presented with the complaints of palpitations and breathlessness. Preoperative transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) revealed a bicuspid aortic valve; severe aortic regurgitation with dilated left ventricle (LV) and mild LV systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction 50%). He was scheduled to undergo aortic valve replacement. History was not suggestive of infective endocarditis (IE). Preoperative TTE did not demonstrate any aortic perivalvular abscess. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examination using the mid-esophageal (ME) long-axis view, showed an abscess cavity affecting the aortic valve, which initially was assumed to be a dissection flap, but later confirmed to be an abscess cavity by color Doppler examination. The ME aortic valve short-axis view showed two abscesses; one was at the junction of the non-coronary and left coronary commissure and the other one above the right coronary cusp. Intraoperatively, these findings were confirmed by the surgeons. The case report demonstrates the superiority of TEE over TTE in diagnosing perivalvular abscesses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care and Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, G B Pant Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Vishnu
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Datt
authors.forename: Anitha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diwakar
authors.forename: Indra
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Geelani
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Tomar
authors.forename: Sanjula
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Virmani
mesh_terms: D000038:Abscess / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000328:Adult; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D000082882:Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D008297:Male; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014463:Ultrasonography