Fourteen-Year Survival in a Case of Ventricular Septal Perforation after Myocardial Infarction.

Abstract

Wetreated a case of ventricular septal perforation (VSP) who survived for 14 years after myocardial infarction. Nine years after the onset of myocardial infarction, an apparent cardiac murmurwas discovered by chance, and following further examination, the patient was diagnosed as having VSP. The patient is still in the NYHA functional class I, and requiring no surgical treatment. In general, the prognosis of myocardial infarction complicated with VSPis so poor that there have only been 14 reported cases of long survival without surgical treatment. Amongthese patients, only 2 survived for more than 10 years. The present case is extremely rare, and evidently is the longest living survivor with this condition yet reported.