title: Myocardial rupture after myocardial infarction is related to the perfusion status of the infarct-related coronary artery.
abstract: Acute or subacute myocardial rupture is a serious and often lethal complication of acute myocardial infarction. The role of an occluded or open culprit coronary artery on the occurrence of this complication is not clear. We therefore reviewed the perfusion status of the infarct-related coronary artery retrospectively in 57 patients who had an initially nonfatal rupture (group A) and 28 patients (including 9 patients from group A) with a postmortem diagnosis of myocardial rupture (group B). In 35 of the 57 patients in group A, a coronary angiogram was available. Complete occlusion or ineffective reperfusion was present in 30 (89%) of 35 patients. The remaining 22 patients of group A showed no clinical signs of reperfusion. All 28 patients of group B had inadequate reperfusion of the infarcted area on postmortem angiography and macroscopic examination of the coronary artery. Our observations suggest that myocardial rupture typically occurs in an infarcted area without reperfusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Academic Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Cheriex
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Swart
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Dijkman
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Havenith
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Maessen
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Engelen
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Wellens
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D003097:Collateral Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006342:Heart Rupture, Post-Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000628:therapy; D015425:Myocardial Reperfusion; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy; D013997:Time Factors