Abstract
Left ventricular rupture is one of the critical complications that can occur during cardiac surgeries, often during a mitral valve replacement. We report a case in which we encountered a left ventricular rupture during a mitral valve reconstruction after completing use of a cardiopulmonary bypass. A 58-year-old man was found to have a cardiac murmur during a health check-up, and visited a nearby hospital where he was given a diagnosis of severe mitral valve regurgitation due to a prolapsed mitral valve by an echocardiographic examination. Under a median sternotomy, a cardiopulmonary bypass was established, and we reconstructed chordae tendineae with Gore-Tex suture and placed an annuloplasty ring to repair the mitral valve. Weaning from the cardiopulmonary bypass was simple, but bleeding inside the pericardium increased during the following hemostasis and we found an oozing area in the left ventricular posterior wall, which was diagnosed as a left ventricular rupture. The patient was placed back on cardiopulmonary bypass, and we closed the ruptured area by tucking it with felt strips while the heart was beating and reinforced it with a fibrin sheet, PGA sheet, and fibrin glue. We then inserted IABP. The hemodynamic condition was stable afterwards and IABP was removed on the 7th day. The patient developed an atrial flutter on the 13th day, which was drug resistant, and we performed a radiofrequency ablation. The patient fully recovered and was discharged on the 44th postoperative day. Considering factors such as excess resection of papillary muscle, failure of mitral loop due to a resection of papillary muscle, excess resection of annulus tissue, excess traction of papillary muscle, damage to the left ventricular inner wall by suction tubes, or excess load on the left ventricle when removing a cardiopulmonary bypass as possible causes, we think very careful maneuvers are required and important even in a mitral valve reconstruction.
