Pneumococcal aortitis, report of a case with emphasis on the contribution to diagnosis of positron emission tomography using fluorinated deoxyglucose

E. Hoogendoorn, W. Oyen, A. van Dijk and J. van der Meer

Department of Internal Medicine, 541, University Medical Center Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. e.hoogendoorn@ENDO.umcn.nl
Jan, 2003

Abstract

We describe an 82-year-old male with pneumococcal aortitis of the descending aorta, visualized by echocardiography and positron emission tomography using fluorinated deoxyglucose (FDG-PET). Computed tomography is considered to be the best diagnostic imaging modality in infected aortic lesions; in this case, the use of FDG-PET, which gives the opportunity to distinguish between inflammatory and non-inflammatory aortic aneurysms, made an important contribution to the diagnosis.