Infective endocarditis (IE) is an infection of the heart lining, primarily mediated by an endothelial injury causing activation of inflammatory cytokines and cells thus forming a thrombus creating a basis for bacteria adherence. The incidence rate is estimated to 2-10 cases per 100.000 people. In hospital mortality rates have been reported to 14-30%. Hence,it is therefore also worrisome that the incidence of IE has significantly increased in the adult population the last decades. Several reasons for this incline in incidence have been suggested: an increasing elderly population, an increase in the prevalence of prosthetic heart valves and cardiac electronic devices and better diagnostics technique.~Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is uncommon but severe complication to surgical and transcatheter valve replacement. Early studies have estimated PVE to account for up to 5% of all IE cases, however in recent studies PVE represents an increased proportion of overall infective endocarditis cases -estimated for almost 20%. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common cause of PVE. The mortality rate of PVE patients is significantly higher than native valve endocarditis (NVE) - in hospital mortality is estimated from 22% to 42% for PVE, and one year mortality for PVE is estimated to 21%-80%. The PVE diagnosis is often hard to verify as the symptoms of IE vary broadly.18Fflurodeoxyglukocose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDGPET/ CT) is recommended as diagnostic imaging technique, however the sensitivity is 83.5% and specificity is 70.8%. The aim of this trial is to investigate whether 64Cu-DOTATATE will show uptake in the infected vegetations on the prosthetic heart valves and increase the accuracy of the right diagnosis.
The investigators hypothesize that the 64Cu-DOTATATE will show uptake in the infected vegetations on the prosthetic heart valves and increase the accuracy of the right diagnosis - thus increasing the sensitivity and specificity compared to 18F-FDG PET/CT