[Bacteriological diagnosis of infectious endocarditis. Evaluation of a system for eliminating antibiotics in the blood].

We carried out 310 blood-cultures on samples from patients receiving antibiotics for either known or suspected infective endocarditis or suspected septicaemia. The culture bottles were inoculated either directly or after the antibiotics had been removed from the blood sample by the Antimicrobial Removal Device System. Out of 63 bacterial isolates from 21 patients (15 infective endocarditis and 6 septicaemias), 45 were made by both methods, 16 only after treatment with the Antimicrobial Removal Device System and two only after conventional culture. Of the 45 paired isolates, eight were cultured more rapidly after Antimicrobial Removal Device System treatment compared with none by conventional culture. The Antimicrobial Removal Device System thus significantly increased the number of positive cultures and the speed of their isolation. In practice, Antimicrobial Removal Device System treatment proved useful in five of the 21 cases, but delayed culture in one. Its greatest value was in showing persistent bacteraemia in patients being treated for prosthetic valve endocarditis.