Left ventricular intra‐myocardial dissection after myocardial infarction

"False" False Tendon: Fatal Intramyocardial Dissecting Hematoma

Intramyocardial dissecting hematoma (IDH) is a rare complication that may emerge from myocardial infarction, thoracic injury, or percutaneous intervention. In the past, IDH was diagnosed through surgical intervention or postmortem autopsy. We present a case of a 70-year-old male with comorbidities who admitted to the intensive care unit after suffering out of hospital pulseless electrical activity cardiac arrest and obtained return of spontaneous circulation after chest compressions. Initial electrocardiogram (ECG) showed ST elevation in the anterolateral leads. Repeated ECG a few minutes later showed junctional rhythm bradycardia with a rate of 27 and serial changes of an anterolateral infarct were present and placed on percutaneous pacing with vasopressors. The troponin I peaked at 1.880. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) portrayed a hyperechoic mobile filamentous structure near the cardiac apex, which was thought to be a false left ventricular (LV) tendon initially. A repeat TTE with the use of an ultrasound enhancing agent (sulfur hexafluoride) revealed an apical neocavity with no contrast filling, suggestive of a large apical IDH within the LV. The patient expired because of cardiac arrest secondary to cardiogenic shock refractory to pressor support, with no autopsy performed. This case highlights an uncommon and timelier diagnostic modality of IDH in deference of more costly and prolonged imaging studies.

Role of multimodality cardiac imaging for evaluation of intramyocardial dissection, from dissecting haematoma to false-pseudoaneurysm: a case series

Background

Intramyocardial dissection (ID) is an extremely rare myocardial infarction mechanical complication. Although both clinical and imaging assessment of this rare condition remains a challenge, recent multimodality imaging techniques may help to confirm and to assess the progressive nature of the disease. Diagnosis may be reached in different stages, from as early as the intramyocardial dissecting haematoma to the severe false-pseudoaneurysm.

Case summary

This series describes five cases of ID and provides insights into imaging findings and clinical course of this extremely uncommon condition. Our patients represented a wide range of clinical stages, from asymptomatic course to cardiogenic shock. The imaging diagnostic approach was very different from case to case and involved techniques such as echocardiography, cardiac CT, and cardiac magnetic resonance.

Discussion

Intramyocardial dissection is a challenging condition in terms of diagnosis and clinical management associated with high morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, the different nomenclature found in the literature may be confusing. This case series supports the need of a terminology standardization and a multimodal imaging approach, which might be determinant for an accurate differential diagnosis and a suitable therapeutic management.

Incremental value of live/real-time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography over the two-dimensional technique in the assessment of left ventricular endocardial rupture with myocardial dissection and contained apical epicardial rupture following myocardial infarction

We report the incremental value of live/real-time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (3DTTE) over two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (2DTTE) in making a definitive diagnosis of left ventricular endocardial rupture with myocardial dissection and contained apical epicardial rupture in an elderly male patient presenting with acute myocardial infarction. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been described previously.

Unusual presentations of cardiac rupture during COVID-19 pandemic

The Covid‐19 pandemia has many other undesirable consequences apart of virus infection. Less people is hospitalized due to acute coronary syndrome and the delay to seek medical attention has increased. Patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction arrive at the hospital too late to be timely treated and we have recently seen mechanical complications that were more frequent in the past decades before the use of reperfusion strategies. In this report we describe the presentation, evolution and detailed imaging evaluation of two patients with unusual presentations of cardiac rupture: left ventricular pseudoaneurysm and left ventricular intramyocardial dissecting hematoma.