New Clinical Classification for Ventricular Free Wall Rupture following Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Ventricular free wall rupture (FWR) is a catastrophic complication after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, patients with FWR die of cardiac tamponade secondary to intrapericardial hemorrhage that can be treated if properly diagnosed. Unfortunately, FWR was still not diagnosed and classified quickly and accurately. The aim of this study was to present a new clinical classification for FWR. Seventy-eight patients with FWR after STEMI were enrolled in the study. We classified FWR, according to clinical situations after onset, into the cardiac arrest type, unstable type, and stable type. The cardiac arrest type was the most common type, accounting for about 83.3%. 90.8% of patients of this type were complicated with electromechanical dissociation at the time of FWR onset, and 100% of patients of this type died in the hospital. The unstable type was characterized by sudden clinical condition changes with moderate/massive pericardial effusion. In this study, 9.0% of patients were diagnosed as the unstable type. The average time from onset to death was 4.5 hours. This period was the "golden time" to rescue such patients. The stable types usually have stable hemodynamics, but may worsen, requiring rigorous detection of pericardial effusion and vital signs. In this study, 7.7% of patients were diagnosed as the stable type, and 83.5% of them survived in the hospital. The new clinical classification provides a basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment of FWR. The clinical application of the new classification is expected to improve the prognosis of FWR patients.

Assessment of postinfarction ventricular septal ruptures by transesophageal Doppler echocardiography.

Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography has been shown to be a sensitive modality for the diagnosis of acute septal ruptures after myocardial infarctions. Transesophageal echocardiography has been shown to improve diagnostic accuracy and image quality in many clinical settings. We performed transesophageal Doppler echocardiography in 10 patients with acute septal ruptures. Transesophageal echocardiography provided improved visualization of the rupture morphology (6 of 10 by transthoracic versus 10 of 10 by transesophageal imaging), better detection of multiple rupture sites (2 by transthoracic, 5 by transesophageal study) and better detail of the direction of shunt flow. On the basis of the transesophageal echocardiographic appearance, we propose that septal ruptures after acute myocardial infarctions be classified as simple or complex, consistent with pathologic criteria for left ventricular septal and free wall ruptures. Transesophageal echocardiography proved a useful and safe adjunct to transthoracic imaging, overcoming the technical limitations in these critically ill patients.

[Heart rupture in myocardial infarction]. / Ruptura srca kod infarkta miokarda.

During the period 1972-1986. 8.589 adult patients died at the Dr. Josip Kajfes General Hospital in Zagreb. Post mortem examinations were performed in 4.459 patients and 496 cases discovered, which were in keeping with so-called ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was found in 322 patients and rupture of the heart (HR) in 64 patients. According to our results IHD and AMI occurred more frequently in persons over 60 years of age, but women were affected on the average some 6 years later than men in all three groups of test subjects. The anterior wall of the left ventricle was the most common site of both AMI and HR. Heart rupture occurred on the average some 3 days after an attack of AMI (average 3.46 days) but this was seen in women a whole day later than in men. The results obtained showed moreover that the mortality rate in patients who died from IHD and AMI over the analysed 15-year period registered a decline, while the mortality rate of patients who died of HR in the same period remained more or less unchanged.

Classification of cardiac rupture complicated in myocardial infarction. Pathological study of 32 cases.

Thirty of 32 cases with cardiac rupture (CR) complications in the myocardial infarction were found out of a total of 91 cases of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The mean age of the ruptured group in females was significantly younger than that of the non-ruptured group. Twenty-one cases showed free wall rupture of the left ventricle, six perforation of ventricular septum and three double rupture. All cardiac ruptures occurred in cases of transmural infarction. The age of AMI was histologically estimated. Nine cases complicated within the first 24 hours of AMI showed rupture of the left anterior wall. CR in the periphery within the infarct occurred at any time during the first week after onset, and cases of the central rupture were increased in number after the 3rd day of AMI. Pathologic findings indicated that elevated wall tension was considered to be most closely related to the cause of CR. Thirty two cases of CR were classified into three types: (1) blowout type, (2) hemorrhagic dissecting type, and (3) thinning-with-rupture type. Hemorrhagic dissecting type was characterized by multiple endocardial ulcers and fissure canals extending from the ulcer with hemorrhage in the surrounding myocardium. Complex fissure was seen in two cases of this type.