Figure 5.

¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT of a 35-year-old man with implanted ICD, with suspected CIEDI due to persistent alteration of inflammation indices and positive blood culture for Staphylococcus epidermidis, in the absence of fever and local signs of infection. The (A) MIP, (B,D) axial fusion and (C,E) coronal fusion images demonstrate the presence of areas of intense and focal increased ¹⁸F-FDG uptake along the lead pathway, both at the retroclavicular level (SUV_max 6.4) (red arrows) and at the intrathoracic level (SUV_max 15.6) (blue arrows). The microbiological analysis, following the extraction of the device, confirmed the infection sustained by the pathogen Staphylococcus epidermidis.