A Case Surviving Surgical Treatment for Postinfarction Left Ventricular Free Wall Rupture (blow-out type)

Abstract

Left ventricular free wall rupture is a catastrophic complication following an acute myocardial infarction. The optimal therapeutic strategy is poorly defined. Herein we report a surgical treatment for a postinfarction blow-out type rupture of the left ventricle free wall in a 78-year-old male patient. Direct closure with Teflon felt strips and covering with a fibrin sheet and bovine pericardial patch, to which gelatin-resorcinol-formaldehyde glue was applied, were performed for the ruptured lesion. The patient survived the surgical intervention, although he had hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy probably due to cardiopulmonary arrest occurring at the time of transfer to our hospital.