title: Post-myocardial infarction ventricular septal defect. Improved outlook.
abstract: Eight patients (mean age 63.75 years) were operated upon for post-myocardial infarction ventricular septal rupture (PMI-VSD) within 1 to 21 days of the infarction and 8 hours to 18 days of rupture. All but one were in low cardiac output syndrome necessitating intra-aortic balloon pumping; all had cardiac catheterization. The VSD was closed via a transinfarct ventriculotomy with an oversized folded double patch, the folded edge being incorporated in the ventriculotomy closure. Five patients received seven saphenous vein coronary bypass grafts. None had recurrent shunts. Six patients (anterior VSD, five; posterior VSD, one) are survivors (18 months to 2.5 years) in Class I (five) or Class II (one). Two patients died postoperatively, one (anterior VSD) of an arrhythmia and the other (posterior VSD) while on biventricular bypass support. Two survivors in whom prolonged preoperative stabilization was attempted required emergency operation before the planned waiting period of 3 weeks had elapsed, and both had postoperative multiorgan complications. Our present approach is to operate as soon as clinical and catheterization diagnosis of VSD is made.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology; D006341:Heart Rupture / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D006346:Heart Septum / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007423:Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications*; D013526:Surgical Mesh; D013997:Time Factors