Penicillin Prophylaxis Cardiac Catheterization

Abstract

To the Editor:— Cardiac catheterization, by providing a portal of entry for pathogenic organisms, may lead to bacterial endocarditis. Antibiotic prophylaxis before, during, and after cardiac catheterization has been widely recommended. Nonetheless, there has never been a prospective study which supports the effectiveness of such prophylaxis. On the contrary, Kriedberg and Chernoff¹ reported that antibiotic prophylaxis in infants and children did not lower the incidence of significant bacterial cultures or fever following cardiac catheterization. They concluded that the use of antibiotics is not warranted prior to cardiac catheterization. Bacterial endocarditis is very uncommon in children.² Their conclusions, therefore, cannot be necessarily applied to the adult patient. Our study was performed to determine whether or not the practice of penicillin prophylaxis has merit in an adult group undergoing cardiac catheterization. Method:— Two groups of adult male patients were included in this study. The first group consisted of 64 patients;