Experimental endocarditis. II. Staphylococcal infection of the aortic valve following placement of a polyethylene catheter in the left side of the heart.

Proceeding from the clinical observation that intravascular polyethylene catheters easily become infected in man, the introduction of a polyethylene catheter into the right side of the heart has recently been shown to induce the formation of sterile endocarditis in rabbits.`' It was further noted that inoculation of as few as 102 staphylococci through the catheter would regularly result in staphylococcal endocarditis. In these experiments the catheter remained in the right heart until the animal was sacrificed; it thus served as a possible source of mechanical trauma and as a nidus for the seeding of microorganisms. The present study was undertaken to test whether it was possible to establish sterile and infective endocarditis in the left side of the heart utilizing techniques that previously had been shown to be effective on the right side.