Infective endocarditis (IE) afflicts 15.000 patients each year with a mortality rate that still hovers at almost 40%. Thus, this disease remains a very serious health problem. Surprisingly, the incidence has not declined over the last 30 years and now with more health care inteventions, such as pacer/ defibrillators, and an increasingly elderly population with degenerative valvular heart disease, the number susceptible to endocarditis is actually increasing. About the patogenesis of IE, very important is the role of endhotelial damage, platelet adhesion and microbial adherence to the vegetation or intact valvular issue. The diagnosis of IE has been enhanced recently by modifications in the Duke criteria to include the use of transesophageal ehocardiography (TEE). The main ehocardiographic characteristic of IE is the vegetation which is generally a irregularly shaped, ehogenic mass. Moreover, echocardiographic study provides clinically important information on the presence and degree of valvular destruction and their haemodynamic consequences, as well as on the existence of perivalvular complications. Recent guidelines for the diagnosis of IE from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) provide an useful tool to guide how and when to perform an echocardiogram (transthoracic or transesophageal) in all cases of at least clinically suspected endocarditis. Indeed, other studies have shown that the use of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is not indicated in patients with a very low probability of IE; on the contrary, for patients who have a high probability of IE, TEE can be, directly, considered as the first choice technique.

Ruolo dell’ecografia nell’endocardite infettiva alla luce dellelinee guida internazionali

ZITO, Concetta
Conceptualization
;
CARERJ, Scipione
Supervision
;
DATTILO, GIUSEPPE
Methodology
;
DI BELLA, Gianluca
Data Curation
;
2007-01-01

Abstract

Infective endocarditis (IE) afflicts 15.000 patients each year with a mortality rate that still hovers at almost 40%. Thus, this disease remains a very serious health problem. Surprisingly, the incidence has not declined over the last 30 years and now with more health care inteventions, such as pacer/ defibrillators, and an increasingly elderly population with degenerative valvular heart disease, the number susceptible to endocarditis is actually increasing. About the patogenesis of IE, very important is the role of endhotelial damage, platelet adhesion and microbial adherence to the vegetation or intact valvular issue. The diagnosis of IE has been enhanced recently by modifications in the Duke criteria to include the use of transesophageal ehocardiography (TEE). The main ehocardiographic characteristic of IE is the vegetation which is generally a irregularly shaped, ehogenic mass. Moreover, echocardiographic study provides clinically important information on the presence and degree of valvular destruction and their haemodynamic consequences, as well as on the existence of perivalvular complications. Recent guidelines for the diagnosis of IE from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) provide an useful tool to guide how and when to perform an echocardiogram (transthoracic or transesophageal) in all cases of at least clinically suspected endocarditis. Indeed, other studies have shown that the use of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is not indicated in patients with a very low probability of IE; on the contrary, for patients who have a high probability of IE, TEE can be, directly, considered as the first choice technique.
2007
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11570/2209021
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