Staphylococcal Infection of a Starr–Edwards Prosthesis, with Fatal Obstruction of the Mitral Valve

IN recent years there has been increasing use of artificial cardiac valves such as the ball valve described by Starr and Edwards¶ in 1961. This report describes a patient with a Starr—Edwards prosthesis who died from occlusion of the mitral valve by thrombus and bacterial vegetations eleven months after operation.Case ReportA 46-year-old woman was admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital for evaluation of fever on July 15, 1963. Twenty-three years previously mitral stenosis had been diagnosed, and in 1956 valvulotomy was performed. Five years later cardiac failure recurred, and atrial fibrillation developed. A markedly stenotic mitral valve was . . .