Prosthetic Heart Valves Thrombosis with Infectious Endocarditis - A Practical Review

Simultaneous or sequential combination of prosthetic valve (PV) thrombosis and infectious endocarditis is a rare clinical finding. The management of these patients involves a complex multidisciplinary strategy using clinical judgment and imaging techniques. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and especially 3D transesophageal echocardiography is essential. Moreover, positron emission tomography with fluorodeoxyglucose (F18-FDG PET/CT) can be a valuable tool to diagnose and manage these complicated clinical scenarios.

We present the case of a 65-year-old patient who was admitted in our clinic for paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea and chills for one week. He had multiple surgical interventions for rheumatic mitral valve disease (percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty in 2008, and mitral valve replacement and tricuspid annuloplasty in October 2019).

At admission, the diagnosis of prosthetic valve thrombosis was established taking into account the clinical context (low INR values for the last two months), the patient symptoms and the echocardiographic findings. IV unfractionated heparin was administered. One week after admission the patient’s clinical status further deteriorated. TEE reevaluation showed partial thrombus regression with elements suggestive for concomitant infectious endocarditis. The diagnosis key is the clinical evolution and repeated TEE evaluations. In our case, they enabled the probable diagnosis of a sequential association of thrombosis and infectious endocarditis on mechanical PV. The therapeutic approach requires a high clinical suspicion and a prompt management, emergent surgery being the only lifesaving strategy in unstable patients with obstructive mechanical pathology.