Postinfarction Left Ventricular Free Wall Rupture

Left ventricular free wall rupture following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the second most common cause of death and has been reported to be responsible for 4 to 24% of all infarction deaths. The rupture occurs anywhere from a few hours to several days after AMI. The common findings of ventricular rupture are persistent chest pain bradycardia and shock. This may be often mistaken for the ruptured dissection of the ascending aorta. The different points from dissection are 1) persistent chest pain 2)persistent ST segment elevation and 3) only intramural hematoma in ascending aorta. We have sucessfully managed two patients with postinfarction myocardial rupture. Surgical management consisted of infarctectomy repairi of the ventricular rupture and coronay artery bypass grafting. We conclude that successful surgical management of ventricular free wall rupture should require prompt diagnosis and emergency operation.ope