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Spontaneous echo contrast imaging in infective endocarditis: a predictor of complications?
Insights
Spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) on echocardiography indicates increased platelet aggregation in infective endocarditis. SEC predicts prolonged healing, valve replacement, and embolic events, aiding risk stratification.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Echocardiography
- Hematology
Background:
- Infective endocarditis (IE) presents significant morbidity and mortality.
- Valvular destruction and heart failure are common in IE patients with vegetations.
- Increased spontaneous platelet aggregation is observed in IE with vegetations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the prognostic value of spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) imaging in infective endocarditis.
- To determine if SEC reflects increased platelet activity and predicts IE outcomes.
- To assess SEC's role in identifying high-risk IE patients.
Main Methods:
- Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) was used to image 293 patients with clinical signs of IE.
- Vegetations were identified in 130 patients, with SEC detected in 34 (26.2%).
- Platelet aggregation was measured using ADP dose-response curves.
Main Results:
- SEC was associated with prolonged IE healing (specificity 91.2%, sensitivity 77.3%).
- SEC is a significant risk factor for valve replacement (p<0.001) and embolic events (p<0.001).
- Patients with SEC showed significantly lower ADP thresholds for platelet aggregation (p<0.05).
Conclusions:
- SEC imaging is an echocardiographic marker of increased platelet aggregation in IE.
- SEC predicts adverse outcomes including prolonged healing, thromboembolic events, and need for surgery.
- TEE, by detecting SEC, enhances risk stratification for infective endocarditis patients.
Abstract:
Infective endocarditis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Valvular destruction and congestive heart failure are more common in patients with echocardiographically detectable vegetations. In addition, spontaneous platelet aggregation is increased when vegetations are present on cardiac valves. The aim of the study was to assess the prognostic value of spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) imaging, as SEC is supposed to reflect red blood cell aggregates stimulated by platelet activity. We studied 293 patients with clinical signs of infective endocarditis. Vegetations, attached to the aortic or mitral valve, were found in 130 patients (44.4%) who were followed for a mean period of 12 months. In 34 of these 130 patients (26.2%) SEC was imaged during the initial transesophageal echocardiographic examination. In these patients SEC indicated a prolonged healing of infective endocarditis with a specificity of 91.2%, a sensitivity of 77.3%, a positive accuracy of 77.3%, a negative accuracy of 74.3%. Multivariate analysis revealed that SEC is a risk factor for valve replacement (p less than 0.001) and for embolic events (p less than 0.001), less for mortality (p less than 0.01), and lowest for abscess formation (p less than 0.05). The dose of ADP to induce half-maximal platelet aggregation was significantly lower in patients with SEC (0.71 +/- 0.15 microliters) than without SEC (1.05 +/- 0.12 microliters; p less than 0.05), implying an increased spontaneous platelet aggregation in the presence of SEC. Our data provide evidence that systemically activated coagulation plays an important role in infective endocarditis. SEC, the echocardiographic implication of an increased platelet aggregation, predicts complications such as thromboembolic events and the need for surgery and is closely related to the prolonged healing period of infective endocarditis. In addition to demonstrating vegetations, transesophageal echocardiography provides information helpful in assigning patients to a high-risk subgroup. Transesophageal echocardiography may play an important role in assessing the clinical outcome of these patients.