The potential benefit of concomitant surgical revascularization represents a controversial topic of the surgical treatment of post-infarction ventricular septal rupture (VSR). Beliaev and colleagues presented a case series interestingly focusing on this issue and showed how the possibility to perform coronary artery bypass grafting at time of VSR repair was associatd with better early and late mortality and improved cardiac function. However, a few more aspects deserve further comments in this controversial topic, especially considering late survival and postoperative cardiac function, although it seems reasonable to conclude that the presence of coronary artery disease not amenable to revascularization represents a strong negative prognostic factor in surgically treated VSR patients.

A document by Daniele Ronco. Click on the document to view its contents.