This case report highlights that cardiac tophi can cause clinically manifest valvular disease, such as pulmonic regurgitation, which may mimic infective endocarditis on echocardiography.
Cardiac tophi may cause pulmonic regurgitation mimicking endocarditis; leaves open prevalence and need for targeted imaging in gout.
Documented cardiac tophi are rare and have not previously been reported to cause clinically manifest valvular disease. A 31-year-old male with complex cyanotic congenital heart disease (Taussig-Bing anomaly) and secondary tophaceous gouty arthritis is described. Terminally, he presented with clinical evidence of a brain abscess and a new semilunar regurgitant murmur. Two-dimensional echocardiography suggested vegetative lesions as the cause of the murmur. The patient was treated for infective endocarditis. At autopsy, the cause of the semilunar regurgitant murmur was shown to be sterile tophi located along the line of pulmonary valvular coaptation. Tophaceous deposits were also present in the mitral valve.
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Curtiss et al. (1983) studied this question.
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