Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ENDOCARDITIS It should be understood that especially in acute conditions a positive separation of endocarditis from myocarditis is incorrect. Acute endocarditis can probably not occur without some myocarditis, and myocarditis probably does not occur without some endocardial disturbance and perhaps some pericardial irritation. This is especially true in endocarditis that occurs during any acute infection, even in rheumatism. The greater the amount of pericarditis, the more serious is the acute condition. The greater the amount of myocarditis, the more doubtful is the heart strength in the near future. The greater the amount of endocarditis, the greater the doubt of freedom from future permanent valvular lesions. Endocarditis may be divided into : acute mild (simple) endocarditis, acute malignant (ulcerative, infective) endocarditis, chronic endocarditis and valvular disease. ACUTE MILD ENDOCARDITIS This inflammation of the endocardium is generally confined to the ïegion of the valves, and the valves most frequently so inflamed are the mitral and aortic. There may be a slight inflammation or actual ulcération and loss of tissue. Vegetations more or less constantly occur on the inflamed surfaces, with more or less danger of particles becoming loosened and movng free in the bloodstream, causing embolie obstruction in different parts of the body. There is also more or less probability of serious adhesions or contractions occurring from the healing of the ulcerated surfaces. In other words, the future health and welfare of the valves depends on thefact that the inflammation has healed without contractions or adhesions. It is often difficult to decide when acute endocarditis has developed, but with the knowledge that the endocardium often becomes inflamed during almost any...