Clinical and imaging diagnosis of cardiac implantable electronic device infections

The incidence of cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infections has increased remarkably in recent years, with the higher implantation rate in an older population with more comorbidities. Diagnosing CIED infection is challenging due to the wide variability of clinical presentation and the complexityof the diagnostic process. To date, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has been the key in the diagnostic algorithm process. However, the recent introduction of F-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([F-18] FDG-PET/CT) has brought notable progress in this field, especially in local CIED infections. Nevertheless, combining both techniques increase the diagnosis yield on endovascular and intracardiac-lead systemic infections. In this review, we present an approach based on the latest evidence published in the literature to diagnose CIED infection. (c) 2022 Sociedad Espanola de Cirugia Cardiovascular y Endovascular. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).