Ventricular Aneurysm

Abstract

Sixty-five consecutive autopsied cases of ventricular aneurysm are reviewed. The incidence of aneurysm following myocardial infarction is similar to that reported in other series. Myocardial infarction preceded the formation of an aneurysm of the ventricle in the vast majority of patients, and a new myocardial infarction was the cause of death of about 50 per cent of them. The survival rate of patients with ventricular aneurysm is not significantly different from the long-term survival of all patients with myocardial infarction found in the same institution. Complications of ventricular aneurysm such as chronic congestive heart failure and rupture of the aneurysm were infrequent causes of death, and systemic embolic phenomena were not observed as a cause of death. In only four patients was the diagnosis made ante mortem. The lack of characteristic clinical, radiologic, and electrocardiographic findings is discussed. It is suggested that the hemodynamic significance of ventricular aneurysms is not ordinarily great, in view of the unaffected statistical prognosis in its presence. The recommended indications for surgery of ventricular aneurysms, based on this retrospective study, are presented.

Elective operations for post-infarction left ventricular aneurysms.

“…The major mechanical complications of myocardial infarction are ventricular aneurysm, rupture or dysfunction of papillary muscles, ventricular septal defect, and acute cardiac rupture (Abrams et al, 1963;Dubnow et al, 1965;Gorlin et al, 1967;Tassel and Edwards, 1972).…”

“…Abrams et al (1963) found at necropsy that ventricular aneurysms were present in 12 4% of patients with myocardial infarction.…”

“…In a collected series of 102 patients with left ventricular aneurysm, Schlichter, Hellerstein, and Katz (1954) found that 73% died within three years, and 88% within five years, due to intractable heart failure, repetitive arrhythmias, recurrent myocardial infarction, or systematic embolization. Left ventricular aneurysm has been reported to occur in 8 to 38% of patients following myocardial infarction (Schlichter et al, 1954;Abrams et al, 1963;Gorlin, Klein, and Sullivan, 1967;Tassel and Edwards, 1972), this wide variation in calculated incidence being caused mainly by difficulty in agreement on an accurate definition of a ventricular aneurysm.…”

Imaging of ischemic heart disease

“…Focal aneurysmal dilatation of a portion of the ventricular wall is found in between 8 and 12% of patients who sustain an acute myocardial infarction [19]. They develop between 2 weeks and 2 years after an acute myocardial infarction [20].…”

Correção cirúrgica do aneurisma de ventrículo esquerdo: comparação entre as técnicas de sutura linear e reconstrução geométrica

“…É encontrado em 10 % dos sobreviventes do infarto agudo do miocárdio (2) e é quatro vezes mais freqüente em infartos que afetam a parede anterior do que a inferior (3) .…”