title: Diagnosing left ventricular aneurysm from pseudo-aneurysm: a case report and a review in literature.
abstract: Rupture of the free wall of the left ventricle (LV) is a catastrophic complication occurring in 4% of patients after myocardial infarction (MI) and in 23% of those who die of MI. Rarely the rupture is contained by an adherent pericardium creating a pseudo-aneurysm. This clinical finding calls for emergency surgery. If no ruptures are detectable and myocardium wall integrity is confirmed, we are in the presence of a true aneurysm, which can be treated by means of elective surgery. Differentiation between these two pathologies remains difficult. We report the case of a patient with a true aneurysm, initially diagnosed as pseudo-aneurysm at our institution; we have reviewed the literature on this difficult diagnosis and outlined characteristic findings of each clinical entity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Ospedale dell'Angelo, Via Paccagnella 11, 30174, Venice, Mestre, Italy. giampaolozoffoli@yahoo.it
authors.forename: Giampaolo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zoffoli
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mangino
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venturini
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terrini
authors.forename: Angiolino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asta
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zanchettin
authors.forename: Elvio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Polesel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017541:Aneurysm, False / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D006322:Heart Aneurysm / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications*; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome