Eyes Wide Shut: A Cohort Study Questioning the Role of Fundoscopy in Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis

Elisavet Stavropoulou; Benoit Guery; Georgios Tzimas; Yan Guex-Crosier; Florence Hoogewoud; Piergiorgio Tozzi; Matthias Kirsch; Pierre Monney; Matthaios Papadimitriou-Olivgeris

doi:10.1093/cid/ciae067

Eyes Wide Shut: A Cohort Study Questioning the Role of Fundoscopy in Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis

Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Mar 20;78(3):663-666. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciae067.

Authors

Elisavet Stavropoulou¹, Benoit Guery¹, Georgios Tzimas², Yan Guex-Crosier³, Florence Hoogewoud³, Piergiorgio Tozzi⁴, Matthias Kirsch⁴, Pierre Monney², Matthaios Papadimitriou-Olivgeris^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Diseases Service, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
² Department of Cardiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Jules-Gonin Eye Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Cardiac Surgery, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁵ Infectious Diseases Service, Cantonal Hospital of Sion and Institut Central des Hôpitaux, Sion, Switzerland.

Abstract

In this retrospective/prospective study, we assessed the role of fundoscopy in 711 episodes with suspected infective endocarditis (IE); 238 (33%) had IE. Ocular embolic events (retinal emboli or chorioretinitis/endophthalmitis) and Roth spots were found in 37 (5%) and 34 (5%) episodes, respectively, but had no impact on IE diagnosis.

Keywords: Duke criteria; Roth spots; fundoscopy; infective endocarditis; ocular embolic events.

MeSH terms

Cohort Studies
Embolism*
Endocarditis* / diagnosis
Endocarditis, Bacterial* / diagnostic imaging
Humans
Prospective Studies
Retrospective Studies