Mycotic visceral aneurysm complicating infectious endocarditis: Imaging diagnosis and follow-up

One of the rarest complications of endocarditis, infected (mycotic) aneurysms result from haematogenous dissemination of septic emboli and occur more frequently in patients with cardiac valvular abnormalities or prosthetic valves, intravenous drug abuse, diabetes and immunosuppression conditions such as HIV infection. Although often clinically unsuspected, mycotic aneurysms are potentially life-threatening because of disseminated sepsis and propensity to rupture. Contrast-enhanced multidetector CT provides prompt detection, characterization and vascular mapping of these lesions, allowing correct planning of surgical or interventional therapies and reproducible follow-up. Because of their characteristically unpredictable behaviour, mycotic aneurysms may undergo spontaneous thrombosis, size reduction, rapid enlargement or rupture, therefore strict imaging surveillance with CT and/or color Doppler ultrasound is necessary.