Visualization by 256-Slice Computed Tomography of Mycotic Aortic Root Aneurysms in Infective Endocarditis

Infective endocarditis may lead to destruction of the aortic root with mycotic aneurysm formation, and is commonly diagnosed using echocardiography. The determination of the extent and exact anatomy of aortic root mycotic aneurysms is of vital importance for preoperative surgical planning. Recently, cardiac multislice computed tomography (CT), with its ability to provide three-dimensional and dynamic visualization of the cardiac anatomy, has been reported as a promising technique that has a good correlation with echocardiography for prosthetic valve imaging and cardiac visualization in infective endocarditis (1-3). The cases are presented of two patients with infective endocarditis and aortic root mycotic aneurysms, who underwent retrospectively ECG-gated contrast-enhanced CT scanning of the heart on a 256-slice scanner (iCT, Philips, Cleveland, OH, USA), for evaluation of the aorto-cardiac anatomy.