Table 4.
Echocardiographic findings in infective endocarditis | |
---|---|
Infectious finding | Echocardiographic findings |
Vegetation | Oscillating or nonoscillating intracardiac mass on valve or other endocardial structures, or on implanted intracardiac material |
Abscess | Thickened, nonhomogeneous perivalvular area with echodense or echolucent appearance |
Pseudoaneurysm | Pulsatile perivalvular echo-free space, with color Doppler flow detected |
Perforation | Interruption of endocardial tissue continuity traversed by color Doppler flow |
Fistula | Color Doppler communication between two neighboring cavities through a perforation |
Valve aneurysm | Saccular bulging of valvular tissue |
Dehiscence of a prosthetic valve | Paravalvular regurgitation identified by TTE/TOE, with or without rocking motion of the prosthesis |
TTE=Transthoracic echocardiography, TOE=Transesophageal echocardiography