A Case of a Young Patient with Acute Endocarditis and Challenging Diagnostic and Treatment Decisions

Abstract

Despite advances achieved in recent years, Infective Endocarditis (IE) remains a disease associated with high mortality and morbidity. When it involves multiple locations at the same time, deciding the best treatment can become challenging. In some cases, especially in patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis, a definitive diagnosis can be difficult to achieve and multimodality imaging including Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Angiography (PET/CTA) has demonstrated improvement in the diagnostic yield. We present a case of a young patient with two previous thoracic surgeries who was admitted due to a severe Staphylococcus aureus IE affecting the mitral valve and presenting a questionable image in an aortic arch graft. This case illustrates the importance of the Endocarditis Team when it comes to difficult decisions regarding diagnosis and management in a disease with poor scientific evidence.