Current Trends in the Diagnosis of Vascular Prosthesis Infection

Abstract

Early diagnosis of an infected vascular prosthesis, a potentially life-threatening disease, is a precondition of adequate treatment. The most frequently used diagnostic imaging method is computer tomography. Non-acute infections caused by low grade agents may pose a challenge with ambiguous CT-images and other ancillary imaging methods are used for these cases, each offering different levels of diagnostic sensitivity. These methods come from the fields of radiology (magnetic resonance imaging - MRI) and nuclear medicine studies using labelled leukocytes (“‘In or ^99mTc- HMPAO), ^99mTc labelled antigranulocyte antibodies, ⁶⁷Ga-citrate or labelled antibiotics (^99mTc-ciprofloxacin) or avidin in combination with ‘“In-biotin. Positron emission tomography (PET) or hybrid PET/CT using ¹⁸F-FDG are becoming increasingly popular. The authors of this review article point out the diagnostic potential of the different methods and current trends, including the possibilities of microbiological demonstration of the agent, as well as their potential position in the diagnostic algorithm.

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Notes on contributors

M. Spacek

M. Spacek, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery General University Hospital U Nemocnice 2 Praha 2 128 08 Czech Republic Tel.: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] Website: http:/kardiochirurgie.lf1.cuni.cz