A Case of Ventricular Septal Rupture After Acute Myocardial Infarction

When ventricular septal rupture (VSR) complicates acute myocardial infarction the mortality is usually high. Reperfusion therapy has reduced its incidence. However if VSR has developed then rapid diagnosis, aggressive medical management, and surgical intervention are required to optimize recovery and survival. In the era before reperfusion therapy, septal rupture complicated 1 to 3 percent of acute myocardial infarctions. Among the 41,021 patients in the Global Utilization of Streptokinase and Tissue Plasminogen Activator for Occluded Coronary Arteries (GUSTO-I) trial, ventricular septal rupture was suspected in 140 patients (0.34 percent) and confirmed by a retrospective review in 84 (0.2 percent). Thus, reperfusion therapy has decreased the incidence of septal rupture. Septal rupture occurs more frequently with anterior wall acute myocardial infarction than other types of acute myocardial infarction. Risk factors for septal rupture included hypertension, advanced age (60 to 69 years), female sex and the absence of a history of angina or myocardial infarction. Angina or previous infarction may lead to myocardial preconditioning as well as to the development of coronary collaterals, both of which reduce the likelihood of septal rupture. In patients undergoing thrombolysis advanced age, female sex, and the absence of smoking are often associated with an increased risk of septal rupture, whereas the absence of antecedent angina has not been associated with an increased risk. In the GUSTO-I trial, there was a nonlinear relation between the systolic and diastolic blood pressures at enrolment and septal rupture, since hypertension and extensive myocardial infarction and right ventricular infarction are also risk factors for septal rupture