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Gallium-67 and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Aortic Root Abscess

Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Fruit Street, Boston, Massachusetts

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Stephen W. Miller, MD, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Fruit St., Boston, MA 02114.

ABSTRACT

Perivascular abscess in the aortic root is a serious complication of infective endocarditis and is recognized infrequently with noninvasive techniques. This report describes a patient with sepsis who was imaged with ⁶⁷Ga and magnetic resonance (MR) in order to locate a site of infection. The ⁶⁷Ga image showed increased activity in the substernal region. Magnetic resonance correctly detected the multilocular aortic root abscess, which had extended into the interatrial septum. The combination of the sensitive ⁶⁷Ga with the high-resolution MR image provided a useful method to locate aortic root abscesses and to identify contiguous spread.