Diagnostic category change (Duke’s criteria) in 262 patients with 266 episodes of suspected infective endocarditis who underwent repeated transthoracic or transoesophageal examinations
| Echocardiographic technique | ||
|---|---|---|
| TTE | TOE | |
| *Number of episodes in patients with definite diagnosis of infective endocarditis. | ||
| TOE, transoesophageal echocardiography; TTE, transthoracic echocardiography. | ||
| Number of examinations per episode of suspected endocarditis | ||
| 1 | 266 (100%) | 266 (100%) |
| 2 | 192 (72.2%) | 49 (18.4%) |
| 3 | 106 (39.8%) | 10 (3.7%) |
| 4 | 47 (17.7%) | 4 (1.5%) |
| 5 | 12 (4.5%) | 1 (0.3%) |
| 6 | 6 (2.2%) | 0 |
| Total of examinations | 629 | 330 |
| Mean examinations/episode | 2.4 | 1.2 |
| Relative to diagnostic category (Duke’s criteria) | ||
| Definite | 363/629 (57.7%) | 183/330 (55.4%) |
| Possible | 170/629 (27.0%) | 87/330 (26.4%) |
| Rejected | 96/629 (15.3%) | 60/330 (18.2%) |
| Diagnostic findings in the first examination | 27/127 (21.2%)* | 87/127 (68.5%)* |
| Reclassification after second examination | 26/192 (13.5%) | 23/49 (46.9%) |
| Reclassification after third examination | 8/106 (7.5%) | 2/10 (20%) |