Diagnostic value of harmonic transthoracic echocardiography in native valve infective endocarditis: comparison with transesophageal echocardiography.

Background: Although echocardiography has been incorporated into the diagnostic algorithm of patients with suspected infective endocarditis (IE), systematic usage in clinical practice remains ill defined. To determine the diagnostic accuracy of detecting vegetations using harmonic transthoracic echocardiography (hTTE) as compared to transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in patients with an intermediate likelihood of native valve IE.

Methods: Between 2004 and 2005, 36 consecutive inpatients with an intermediate likelihood of disease were prospectively evaluated by hTTE and TEE.