Ventriculoplasty: Excision of Myocardial Aneurysm

Although aneurysm of the ventricle was recognized as early as 1757 by Hunter,¹it was not until the turn of the 20th century that its relationship to coronary occlusion and to myocardial infarction was fully understood.²Sternberg³has expressed his views on the pathogenesis and symptomatology, which since have formed the basis for our modern concepts regarding cardiac aneurysm. He was the first to recognize the lesion during life by means of physical and auscultatory signs that remain useful currently. Myocardial aneurysms may result from congenital defects, trauma, and syphilis. The vast majority, however, develop following the myomalacia of myocardial infarction. They are, therefore, incidental to arteriosclerotic or atheromatous cardiovascular disease and represent an unfortunate local complication of a generalized process. The earlier statistical reviews imply that ventricular aneurysm is an exceptional finding in the total autopsy population.⁴In true perspective, however, it is an entity