EXPERIMENTAL CARDIAC VALVULAR DISEASE IN DOGS, AND SUBACUTE AND CHRONIC CARDIAC VALVULAR DISEASE IN MAN

Abstract

In a previous paper¹ a method was presented for creating cardiac valvular disease in dogs. The purpose of the present study is to compare the gross and microscopic structures of these experimental canine lesions with the lesions of subacute and chronic cardiac valvular disease in man. The contention has been advanced by Swift² and others that the vegetations of subacute bacterial endocarditis are engrafted on abnormal valves and, in the majority of instances, on valves that have been the site of rheumatic endocarditis. By the method previously described,¹ similar vegetations may be implanted on artificially traumatized valves in dogs. The chronological development of the two lesions in each case is reversed, however. In man, some form of valvular disease appears to be essential before vegetative endocarditis may occur. In dogs, fibrosis and cicatrization take place as the lesions of acute vegetative endocarditis heal. Although the etiology of rheumatic