Inferior cardiac aneurysm involving the interventricular septum. A complication of an acquired ventricular septal defect

A rare long-term survival of the life-threatening trio: silent myocardial infarction complicated by ventricular septal rupture, type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic bronchitis

Silent myocardial infarction followed by ventricular septal rupture (VSR) is a rare phenomenon. In the absence of a timely diagnosis and surgical correction, the short term mortality of such patients is greater than 90%. We present one such unique case of a patient with an asymptomatic myocardial infarction complicated by VSR, type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic bronchitis. Unfortunately, this possibly life-threatening condition had been misdiagnosed for more than one month after initial medical contact. Lack of typical symptoms of chest pain and chronic bronchitis is primarily responsible for this long-time misdiagnosis. We want to emphasize the importance of systematic diagnostic work-up, high vigilance for possibility of VSR complicating myocardial infarction in aged patients with diabetes and chronic bronchitis, which may mislead doctors' judgments and put patients at high risk.

Ventricular septal aneurysm: a complication of myocardial infarction

We report the case of a ventricular septal aneurysm in a patient with a previous inferior myocardial infarction. Two-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated a cystic cavity in the muscular septum with a small communication into the left ventricle. No evidence of left-to-right shunt was detected with Doppler echocardiography or during left ventriculography.

Six-year survival of unoperated ventricular septal rupture following myocardial infarction

We present the case of a patient who survived for 6 years without surgical repair of a ventricular septal rupture that followed an acute myocardial infarction. To the best of our knowledge, only 3 other cases have been reported in which the patient survived for more than 5 years.

Three Different Coexisting Mechanical Complications of Myocardial Infarction Detected by Transthoracic and Transesophageal Echocardiography

An aneurysm, pseudoaneurysm, and interventricular septal rupture were detected by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in a 61-year-old man with anterior myocardial infarction. This case illustrates the value of these techniques in the assessment of mechanical complications associated with myocardial infarction.

Echocardiographic Features of Ventricular Septal Rupture with Right Ventricular Aneurysm After Acute Myocardial Infarction

Postinfarction ventricular septal defect is a life-threatening disorder that may be adequately treated if the diagnosis is obtained promptly. Two-dimensional color Doppler echocardiography is a reliable tool for this diagnosis and gives additional information regarding its location, size, and shape. The authors emphasize the feasibility of this method to depict a particular form of postinfarction interventricular septal rupture, which developed an aneurysm inside the right ventricular cavity. Its characteristics were completely defined by color Doppler echocardiography and confirmed at surgery. (ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Volume 13, May 1996)

Role of infarct expansion in rupture of the ventricular septum after acute myocardial infarction: a two-dimensional echocardiographic study

To verify the role of infarct expansion (IE) in ventricular septal rupture (VSR) after transmural acute myocardial infarction (TAMI), topographic parameters were measured using tomographic imaging with two-dimensional echocardiography (2-D echo) and computer-aided analysis in four groups of patients: 8 patients with VSR (Group 1); 24 patients with TAMI but no mechanical complications (Group 2); 11 normal athletes (Group 3); 5 adults with congenital ventricular septal defect (Group 4). Measurements made on end-diastolic outlines of mid-left ventricular (LV) short-axis images included: LV asynergy (akinesis and/or dyskinesis), expansion index (asynergy/nonasynergy-containing endocardial segment length), thinning ratio (asynergic/nonasynergic wall thickness), and new indexes of regional shape distortion (RSD) by quantifying the deviation of the actual asynergic segment from the ideal asynergic arc constructed using the nearly circular nonasynergic contour. In Group 1, clinical IE (hypotension, congestive heart failure, no signs of new infarction) preceded detection of the VSR and portable 2-D echo showed the VSR associated with LV asynergy, marked IE, and RSD. Although Groups 1 and 2 had similar LV asynergy (28.7 vs. 26.9% LV) and ejection fraction (38.9 vs. 41.8%), Group 1 had higher expansion index (1.50 vs. 1.17, p less than 0.05), lower thinning ratio (0.54 vs. 0.67, p less than 0.005), and higher RSD parameters (e.g., peak distortion, Pk or maximum radial distance from the ideal arc, 19.3 vs. 3.9 mm, p less than 0.01; area of distortion, Ad, 7.4 vs. 1.1 cm2, p less than 0.05) than Group 2. Groups 3 and 4 had normal regional and global function and no evidence of expansion, thinning, or RSD. Thus, IE with marked diastolic RSD on an early 2-D echo after TAMI might identify patients at risk for VSR.