Diagnostic imaging in infective endocarditis: a contemporary perspective.

Infective endocarditis (IE) remains a diagnostic challenge. Prompt diagnosis is essential for accurate risk stratification and appropriate therapeutic decisions and surgical management. In recent years, the use of multimodal imaging has had a transformative effect on the diagnostic approach of IE in selected patients. This review assesses published literature on different imaging modalities for the diagnosis of IE published between 1 January 2009 and 1 February 2020. We illustrate the diagnostic approach to IE with three clinical cases. Novel approaches to imaging for cardiac and extracardiac complications improve and individualize diagnosis, management, and prognosis in patients with suspected IE. The use of multimodal imaging should be guided by a multidisciplinary group of medical providers that includes infectious disease specialists, radiologists, cardiologists, and cardiothoracic surgeons.