Septic endocarditis and indwelling pulmonary artery catheters
J. F. Greene Jr, J. E. Fitzwater and T. P. Clemmer
A pulmonary artery catheter removed from a man with idiopathic
cardiomyopathy yielded Staphylococcus aureus in culture, as did blood and
sputum. Septic endocarditis of the right side of the heart was found at
autopsy. A review of 438 autopsy reports in which an indwelling pulmonary
catheter had been used and of another 493 reports preceding its use at our
medical center suggests no association between the use of indwelling
catheters in the right side of the heart and endocarditis in the left,
although there is a risk of thrombotic endocardial vegetation formation in
the right side of the heart, with possible infection or embolization.
