Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis Following Cardiac Surgery

Mechanical trauma to the valves of the heart has long been known to be the most reliable experimental method of production of bacterial endocarditis.¹The first attempt by this method is attributed to Rosenbach (1878),²who in dogs and rabbits succeeded in producing a bacterial endocarditis by injuring the aortic cusps with a nonsterile rod passed through the carotid artery. As the traumatizing agent, Ribbert (1885)³used suspensions of staphylococci and starch granules from potato cultures; Fulci (1908),⁴bacteria in carbon suspension; Panichi and Guelfi (1909),⁵bacteria and carcinoma cells; Viti (1912),⁶a medium composed of sterile flour and bacteria. Regardless of the nature of the traumatizing agent, a bacterial endocarditis ensued in the injured valves upon implantation of the bacteria. Equally successful was an experiment by Kinsella and Hayes (1927),⁷who induced bacterial endocarditis in dogs by injuring the aortic valves with