We read with great interest the work published by Veloso and colleagues1 that investigated the bacterial adherence to pulmonary valve graft tissues under static and flow conditions. These experiments were achieved using wild bacterial strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Streptococcus sanguinis and the following valvular substrates: bovine pericardium patch, bovine jugular vein, and cryopreserved homograft. The authors concluded that the surface composition of bovine jugular vein and homograft tissues themselves, bacterial surface proteins, and shear forces per se were not the prime determinants of bacterial adherence.
