Splenic abscess and infective endocarditis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the background, bacteriological, clinical and radiological findings, associated lesions, treatment and outcome of splenic abscesses (SAs) in infective endocarditis (IE). METHODS: Retrospective study (2005-2021) of 474 patients with definite IE. The diagnosis of SA was made in 36 (7.6%) patients (31, 86.1%, males, mean age = 51.3) on abdominal CT. RESULTS: The main implicated organisms were Streptococcus spp (36.1%), Enterococcus faecalis (27.7%), Staphyloccus spp (19.4%). Rare agents were present in 10 patients (27.8%). Pre-existing conditions included a prosthetic valve (19.4%), previous IE (13.9%), intravenous drug use (8.4%), diabetes (25%) alcohol abuse (13.9%), liver disease (5.5%). Vegetations ≥ 15 mm were present in 36.1%. Common presentations were abdominal pain (19.4%) and left-sided pleural effusion (16.5%). SA were more often small (50%; 7 multiple) than large (36.1%; 1 multiple) or microabscesses (13.9%, 3 multiple). Associated complications were extrasplenic abscesses (brain, 11.1%; lung, 5.5%; liver, 2.8%), infectious aneurysms (16.7%: 3 intracranial, 1 splenic, 1 hepatic, 1 popliteal), emboli (brain, 52.8%; spleen, 44.4%, 5 evolving to SA; kidney, 22.2%; aorta, 2.8%), osteoarticular infections (25%). Twenty-eight (77.8%) patients only received antimicrobials, 7 (19.4%) underwent splenectomy, after cardiac surgery in 5. One had percutaneous drainage. The outcome was uneventful (follow-up 3 months-14 years; mean: 17.2 months). CONCLUSION: In SA-IE patients, the prevalence of vegetation size, Enterococcus faecalis, rare germs, diabetes, osteo-arthritic involvement and cancer was higher than in non-SA patients. Some SAs developed from splenic infarcts. IE-patients with evidence of splenic emboli should be evaluated for a possible abcedation. Cardiac surgery before splenectomy was safe.

Hepatic Artery Aneurysms in Infective Endocarditis: Report of 10 Cases and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic artery aneurysms (HAAs), albeit rare in infective endocarditis (IE), are associated with a life-threatening morbidity. METHODS: Retrospective review of 10 HAA-IE patients based on a total of 623 IE patients managed in 2 institutions (2008-2020) versus 35 literature cases. RESULTS: In our patient population, HAAs (10 males, mean age 48) were incidentally found during IE workup. All were asymptomatic. IE involved mitral (n = 6), aortic (n = 3), or mitral-aortic valve (n = 1). Predisposing factors for IE were as follows: prosthetic valve (n = 6), previous IE (n = 2), IV drug user (n = 1). Streptococcus species (spp.) were predominant (n = 4), then staphylococcus spp (n = 2) and E. faecalis (n = 2). All patients presented associated lesions: infectious aneurysms (n = 5), emboli (n = 9), abscesses (n = 5), and spondylitis/spondylodiscitis (n = 2). HAA patterns on abdominal CT angiography (CTA) were solitary (70%), mean diameter 11.7 mm (range 2-30), intrahepatic location (100%) involving the right HA in 9 out of 10 (90%) patients. In 2 patients, HAAs were complicated (rectorragia and hemobilia in 1, cholestasis in the other). Six patients underwent endovascular hepatic embolization (2 with multiple HAAs). Three HAA-IEs <15 mm resolved under antibiotherapy on abdominal CTA follow-up. All patients underwent cardiac surgery. Late outcome was favorable in all followed patients (5/10). Literature review showed the preponderance of Streptococcus spp., of right lobe and intrahepatic HAA localization. Complications revealed HAAs in patients under antibiotic therapy and/or after cardiac surgery in 17 literature cases of delayed diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal CTA was pivotal in the initial IE workup. Small aneurysms (≤15 mm) resolved under antibiotherapy. The usual treatment modality was HAA embolization and endovascular embolization before valve surgery was safe.

Brain abscesses in infective endocarditis: contemporary profile and neuroradiological findings.

BACKGROUND: Brain abscesses (BA) are severe lesions in the course of infective endocarditis (IE). We compare the bacteriological, clinical data, background, associated lesions, and outcome of IE patients with and without BAs, and assess the MRI characteristics of BAs. METHODS: Retrospective study of 351 consecutive patients with definite IE (2005-2020) and at least one brain MRI. Patients with and without BAs were compared. RESULTS: Twenty patients (5.7%) had BA (80% men; median age: 44.9 ± 11.5). They were younger (p = 0.035) and had a higher rate of predisposing factors (previous IE 20% vs 2.2%, p = 0.03), intravenous drug use [25% vs 2.2%; p < 0.0001]), underlying conditions (HIV infection, 20% vs 2.2%, p < 0.0001; alcohol abuse, 20% vs 2.2% p < 0.0001]; liver disease p = 0.04; hemodialysis, p = 0.001; type 2 diabetes, p = 0.001), bacterial meningitis (p = 0.0029), rare species involvement (35% vs 7%, p < 0.0006) and extra-cerebral abscesses (p = 0.0001) compared to patients without BA. Valve vegetations were larger in Group 1 (p = 0.046). Clinical presentation could suggest the diagnosis of BA in only 7/20 (35%) patients. MR identified 58 BAs (mean/patient 2.9; range 2-12): often multiple (80%), bilateral (55%) and ≤ 10 mm (72%). The presence of BA did not modify cardiac surgery indication and timing. Favorable outcome was observed in 85% of patients. CONCLUSION: Rates of predisposing, underlying conditions, rare IE agents, meningitis and metastatic abscesses are significantly higher in BA-IE patients. As BAs can develop in asymptomatic IE patients, the impact of brain MRI on their management needs thoroughly to be further investigated.

MRI of unruptured infectious intracranial aneurysms in infective endocarditis. A case-control study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of T2* and FLAIR sequences in the detection of unruptured infectious intracranial aneurysms (UIIAs) in infective endocarditis (IE) including the relationships between the lesion patterns within subarachnoid spaces and the presence of UIIA. METHODS: Retrospective review of 15 consecutive patients with definite IE undergoing MR imaging (FLAIR, T2*, DWI, CE-MRA, 3D-T1, CE-3DT1 sequences), in whom DSA detected infectious intracranial aneurysms (IIA). Aneurysmal features (diameter, location, morphology on DSA) and signal patterns onT2*, FLAIR and conventional MR sequences at the site of the UIIA, follow-up MRI and IE background, were analyzed. A control-group of 15 IE-patients without IIA at DSA served for comparison. RESULTS: Among 17 UIIAs studied, T2* sequence displayed a susceptibility vessel sign in 15/17 (88.2%), both distal and proximal, which matched with the IIA visualized on DSA. Three patterns of hyposignal areas were identified: (a) signet-ring or target-sign appearance (n = 7), (b) homogeneous, round-, oval- or pear-shaped area (n = 4), and (c) heterogeneous area (n = 4). A FLAIR hyperintensity of the lumen and of the adjacent cortex was present in 6 (35.3%) and 9 (53%) UIIAs, respectively. On T1 (12 UIIAs) a rounded hyposignal (n = 2), within the UIIA lumen matched with the FLAIR hypersignal. Using both T2* and FLAIR had an incremental value with 100% sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSION: The susceptibility vessel sign is an MR imaging pattern frequently observed at the site of UIIAs in IE-patients. Both T2* and FLAIR may have the potential to depict UIIAs, regardless of their location and shape.

Impact of Systematic Whole-body 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT on the Management of Patients Suspected of Infective Endocarditis: The Prospective Multicenter TEPvENDO Study.

BACKGROUND: Diagnostic and patients' management modifications induced by whole-body 18F-FDG-PET/CT had not been evaluated so far in prosthetic valve (PV) or native valve (NV) infective endocarditis (IE)-suspected patients. METHODS: In sum, 140 consecutive patients in 8 tertiary care hospitals underwent 18F-FDG-PET/CT. ESC-2015-modified Duke criteria and patients' management plan were established jointly by 2 experts before 18F-FDG-PET/CT. The same experts reestablished Duke classification and patients' management plan immediately after qualitative interpretation of 18F-FDG-PET/CT. A 6-month final Duke classification was established. RESULTS: Among the 70 PV and 70 NV patients, 34 and 46 were classified as definite IE before 18F-FDG-PET/CT. Abnormal perivalvular 18F-FDG uptake was recorded in 67.2% PV and 24.3% NV patients respectively (P < .001) and extracardiac uptake in 44.3% PV and 51.4% NV patients. IE classification was modified in 24.3% and 5.7% patients (P = .005) (net reclassification index 20% and 4.3%). Patients' managements were modified in 21.4% PV and 31.4% NV patients (P = .25). It was mainly due to perivalvular uptake in PV patients and to extra-cardiac uptake in NV patients and consisted in surgery plan modifications in 7 patients, antibiotic plan modifications in 22 patients and both in 5 patients. Altogether, 18F-FDG-PET/CT modified classification and/or care in 40% of the patients (95% confidence interval: 32-48), which was most likely to occur in those with a noncontributing echocardiography (P < .001) or IE classified as possible at baseline (P = .04), while there was no difference between NV and PV. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic 18F-FDG-PET/CT did significantly and appropriately impact diagnostic classification and/or IE management in PV and NV-IE suspected patients. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT02287792.

Usefulness of contrast-enhanced 3D MR angiography and contrast-enhanced 3D T1 sequence for detecting intracranial infectious aneurysms in infectious endocarditis.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced MRA (CE MRA) and CE 3D-T1 for identifying intracranial infectious aneurysms (IIAs) in infective endocarditis (IE) with digital substraction angiography (DSA) as reference. METHODS: Twenty-one IE patients (14 males; mean age: 53 years) with 30 IIAs, diameter ranging 1.5-15 mm (<3mm, n = 14, 46.7%; 3-5 mm, n = 12,40%), underwent CE MRA and CE 3D-T1 at 1.5 T. Two readers evaluated images for aneurysm detection, characterization, quality of visualization. DSA was obtained at a median of 3 days (range 1-15) after MRI. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy of IIA detection were respectively: 80%, 100%, 100%, 82.3%, 90% for CE MRA and 86.7%, 100%, 100%, 88.2%, 93.3% for CE 3D T1 compared to DSA. No significant difference was observed between CE MRA and CE 3D-T1 for accuracy and quality of visualization. All IIAs of ≥3 mm in diameter (16/30; 53.%) were identified by both sequences, which were also able to detect IIAs ≤ 3 mm (n = 14/30, 46.7%). False negatives were observed with both sequences for 4 IIAs of <2 mm, 3 being compressed by hemorrhagic lesions. Two other IIAs of <2 mm were overlooked by CE MRA. CE 3D-T1 overestimated IIAs luminal diameter by 8% relatively to DSA (P = NS). Intra and inter-observer agreement were good and similar with both methods. CONCLUSION: Both CE MRA and CE 3D-T1 have good accuracy compared to DSA detection and characterization of IIAs. CE 3D-T1 also evaluates anatomical relationships of IIAs, which could help DSA location and endovascular treatment.

Acute convexity subarachnoid hemorrhage (cSAH) in infectious endocarditis (IE): imaging features and follow-up.

AIM: To assess: (1) the prevalence of convexity subarachnoid hemorrhage (cSAH) in infective endocarditis (IE); (2) its relationship with IE features; (3) the associated lesions; (4) whether cSAH is a predictor of future hemorrhage; (5) whether cSAH could cause cortical superficial siderosis (cSS). METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the MRI data in 240 IE-patients: At baseline, the location of cSAH and associated lesions; at follow-up, the occurrence of new lesions and of cSS. Patients with and without cSAH were compared. RESULTS: There were 21 cSAH-IE patients without (Group 1a) and 10 with intracranial infectious aneurysms (IIAs) (Group 1b). cSAH was revealed by headache (16.1%), confusion (9.7%), acute meningeal syndrome (3.2%) and was incidental in 71%. In most cases, the cSAH was: in the frontal (61.3%) and the parietal lobe (16.1%), unifocal, and mainly localized within a single sulcus (80.7%), appearing as a thick intrasulcal dark line on T2* in 70% of IIA patients. Valvular vegetations (87.1%, p < 0.0001), vegetations length ≥ 15 mm (58.1%, p < 0.0001) and mitral valve involvement (61.3%; p = 0.05) were significantly associated. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of pathogen distribution, valve characteristics and clinical expression. Associated lesions were: CMBs (77.4%), DWILs (51.6%), brain hemorrhages (16.1%) brain micro-abscesses (3.2%) meningitis (3.2%), visceral emboli (45.2%). At follow-up: no SAH recurrence or neurological event. cSS disappeared in 7/12 cases. CONCLUSION: cSAH in IE is mostly an incidental finding but may be the telltale sign of an IIA. cSAH is not a marker of poor prognosis in non-IIA patients.