Positron emission tomography in the diagnosis of Whipple’s endocarditis: a case report

BMC Research Notes

Didier Raoult¹  Thierry Caus²  Emmanouil Angelakis¹  Sarah-Lyne Jos¹ 

[1] URMITE CNRS-IRD 198 UMR 6236, Aix Marseille Université, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, Marseille, 13385, France;INSERM, ERI-12 (EA 4292), University of Picardie, Department of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital Amiens, Avenue René Laënnec – Salouël, Amiens, 80054, France

关键词: Culture-negative endocarditis;    Tropheryma whipplei;    Positron emission tomography;   

Others  :  1131348
DOI  :  10.1186/s13104-015-1022-2

 received in 2014-11-12, accepted in 2015-02-19,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

Whipple’s disease is a systemic infection that sometimes is associated with cardiac manifestations. The diagnosis of Tropheryma whipplei endocarditis is still the result of chance because there are no diagnostic criteria and clinical signs are often those of cardiac disease rather than infection.

Case presentation

Culture-negative endocarditis was suspected in a non-febrile 77-year-old French woman from North France with a history of a graft replacement 4 years prior. Positron emission tomography revealed intense fluorodeoxyglucose uptake around the metal ring of the aortic graft. The valve was replaced, and T. whipplei was detected in a valve sample by molecular assays. Immunohistochemical staining of the valve for T. whipplei was also positive.

Conclusion

The localization of infectious foci by positron emission tomography and systematically testing valve specimens for T. whipplei are promising for diagnosing Whipple’s disease.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Jos et al.; licensee BioMed Central.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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