[How I explore ... value of isotopic techniques in the detection of sepsis in valvular prostheses]

Vascular graft infection is a rare but serious complication of vascular surgery. The diagnosis is frequently difficult. White blood cell imaging (111In or 99mTc-HMPAO) is an adequate technique for detecting vascular graft infection. This is a sensitive and specific method and has some advantages in the detection of perioperative or low grade infection in comparison to conventional imaging. The usefulness of other techniques like the 18FDG-PET scan is studied, but not yet evaluated. We compare the different methods actually used by illustrating three case reports of vascular graft infection for whom the diagnosis was formally made by isotopic imaging.