Abstract 17034: Acute Ventricular Septal Rupture Management By The Cardiac Intensivist

Abstract

Case Presentation: A 59-year-old male presented with chest pain and electrocardiogram showed convex ST elevations in the inferior leads. He underwent emergent coronary angiography revealing a 99% mid-distal right coronary artery thrombotic occlusion followed by placement of a drug-eluting stent. Transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) revealed a 2.5 cm muscular ventricular septal rupture (VSR) with a calculated pulmonary-systemic flow ratio (Qp/Qs) of 2.4 in the setting of normal right and left ventricular systolic function. In the intensive care unit, he still had nausea and chest discomfort, along with acute kidney injury and elevated lactate levels. A trial of aggressive medical management was pursued to avoid emergent cardiac surgery. We placed an arterial line and initiated afterload reduction with sodium nitroprusside, utilizing serial bedside TTEs to monitor his Qp/Qs, which trended down to 1.8 over the subsequent 12 hours followed by normalization of lactate and kidney function. His symptoms resolved and he remained stable while transitioning to oral vasodilators. After four weeks of medical therapy, he underwent timely surgical repair of his VSR and discharged home. Discussion: Ventricular septal rupture is a serious complication of inferior myocardial infarctions (MI). From a cardiac intensivist perspective, we maintained the patient at a euvolemic state while using systemic vasodilators to divert the left-to-right shunt flow and augment his systemic flow. We want to highlight the utility of serial bedside TTEs to guide therapy for VSR (Figure 1). Fortunately, our patient did not require mechanical circulatory support to maintain his hemodynamics. We also discussed with our cardiothoracic surgeons about the optimal timing for surgical repair. The guidelines suggest urgent VSR repair following an MI; however, the exact timing is debatable given the fragility of the inflamed post-MI myocardium and better surgical outcomes with maturation of the VSR.