Is it safe to perform coronary angiography during acute endocarditis?

A best evidence topic was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was 'Is it safe to perform coronary angiography (CA) in acute endocarditis?' Three hundred and ninety-seven papers were found using the reported search, of which six represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, key results and limitations of these papers are tabulated. One of the papers is a case report, which reported a fatal vegetation embolism from an infected aortic valve into the left main coronary artery 14 h after angiography. The remaining five papers are cohort studies. Four of these studies were performed between 1970 and 1980 before the era of echocardiography and were aimed at quantifying the severity of valvular regurgitation. No embolic complications or dislodgement of vegetations occurred in any of the five studies (186 patients). Guidelines published by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2009 recommended CA in the context of infective endocarditis (IE) for men >40 years old, postmenopausal women, and patients with at least one cardiovascular risk factor or a history of coronary artery disease. Exceptions include patients with large aortic vegetations which may be dislodged during catheterisation, and when emergency surgery is necessary - 1) native aortic or mitral IE with severe acute regurgitation or valve obstruction, or prosthetic valve IE with severe prosthetic dysfunction (dehiscence or obstruction) causing refractory pulmonary oedema or cardiogenic shock; 2) native aortic, mitral, or prosthetic valve IE with fistula into a cardiac chamber or pericardium causing refractory pulmonary oedema or shock. This is reiterated by the guidelines on the management of valvular heart disease published by the ESC in 2007. From the findings of the six papers, it can be concluded that coronary angiography can be performed safely in IE and should be performed if deemed necessary, unless the patients are haemodynamically unstable requiring emergency surgery, or have large vegetations of the aortic valve. This is consistent with the ESC guidelines.