title: The value of transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography for the diagnosis of the native aortic infective endocarditis valve complications: a case report and literature review.
abstract: Despite its current limitations transthoracic echocardiography is still widely used for the anatomical and functional evaluation of patients with infective endocarditis. However, all these limitations can be overcome by using transesophageal echocardiography. We present the case of a 42-year-old male patient, diagnosed with aortic valve infective endocarditis, whose transthoracic echocardiography showed only a cusp vegetation and aortic regurgitation, but raised the suspicion of periannular complications. The transesophageal echocardiography revealed a circular aortic root abscess and a ventricular septal defect with left-to-right shunt, and consequently leads to a complete different surgical tactical approach. The patient was urgently referred for surgery due to the rapid deterioration of the hemodynamic status, and had a good outcome on the short-term follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Surgery Department, Heart Institute, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molnar
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Surgery Department, Heart Institute, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. diana_sacui27@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sacui
authors.affiliation: Radiology Clinic, Emergency Clinic County Hospital, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manole
authors.affiliation: Infectious Disease Clinic, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Radulescu
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Heart Institute, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Ruxandra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Beyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000601:surgery; D004452:Echocardiography; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male