Infectious Endocarditis Comparison Of Results Of The Period 1966-1972 With Earlier Experience

Results of treatment of bacterial endocarditis in the period from 1966 to 1972 are compared with previously reported results from the same institution for earlier time periods. The main differences between these two series was the greater emphasis on early detection and laboratory studies during treatment in the later period. Also, the development of cardiac surgery has led to the appearance of a great number of cases of infectious endocarditis in operated patients. Although the increased attention for the problems of infectious endocarditis was accompanied by a significant decrease in the mortality of patients which had not undergone cardiac surgery, the mortality in patients who have been operated remained frightful. In this latter series, the length of time which elasped between the operation and the development of endocarditis suggested that the infection did not occur at the time of operation in the greatest number of cases.