Open AccessHealed perivalvular abscess: Incidental finding on transthoracic echocardiography
Author(s) -
Vishnu Datt,
Anitha Diwakar,
Indra Malik,
Muhammad Abid Geelani,
Akanksha Tomar,
Sanjula Virmani
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
annals of cardiac anaesthesia/annals of cardiac anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.42
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 0974-5181
pISSN - 0971-9784
DOI - 10.4103/0971-9784.129862
Subject(s) - medicine , bicuspid aortic valve , ventricle , palpitations , cardiology , aortic valve , aortic valve replacement , abscess , aortic dissection , transesophageal echocardiogram , infective endocarditis , endocarditis , regurgitation (circulation) , radiology , intracardiac injection , bicuspid valve , surgery , stenosis , aorta
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.