Evidence-based PET in cardiovascular infectious diseases: an umbrella review

Background: To summarize the more robust evidence about the performance of 18 fluorine-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([18F]FDG PET/CT) for diagnosis of cardiovascular infections, particularly endocarditis, cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infections, left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and vascular graft infection (VGI). Methods: This systematic review of systematic reviews was carried out according to a predefined protocol. A search string was created. A comprehensive search of literature was performed until October 2025. Results: Quality assessment of eligible systematic reviews was performed and main findings were described. Conclusions: [18F]FDG PET/CT has good diagnostic accuracy in detecting prosthetic valve endocarditis, cardiac devices infections (both CIED and LVAD) and VGI, while the accuracy seems to be sub optimal in patients with native valve endocarditis.