A diagnostic cohort study on the accuracy of 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)-CT for evaluation of malignancy in anterior mediastinal lesions: the DECiMaL study.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to collate multi-institutional data to determine the value by defining the diagnostic performance of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET)/CT for malignancy in patients undergoing surgery with an anterior mediastinal mass in order to ascertain the clinical utility of PET/CT to differentiate malignant from benign aetiologies in patients presenting with an anterior mediastinal mass SETTING: DECiMaL Study is a multicentre, retrospective, collaborative cohort study in seven UK surgical sites.

Participants: Between January 2002 and June 2015, a total of 134 patients were submitted with a mean age (SD) of 55 years (16) of which 69 (51%) were men. We included all patients undergoing surgery who presented with an anterior mediastinal mass and underwent PET/CT.

Tropheryma whipplei endocarditis without gastrointestinal involvement.

Whipple's disease, caused by the bacterium Tropheryma whipplei, is a rare chronic multi-system illness commonly affecting the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and presenting with a triad of diarrhoea, weight loss and malabsorption. While 20-55% of patients with a diagnosis of Whipple's disease have clinically evident cardiac manifestations, the initial presentation with isolated valvular disease, without any GI symptoms, is rare. Whereas cardiac involvement usually involves a single valve, cases of double-valve involvement are extremely rare.