Clinical analysis and risk stratification of ventricular septal rupture following acute myocardial infarction

Background Ventricular septal rupture (VSR) remains an infrequent but devastating complication of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The best time to undergo surgical repair is controversial and there is currently no risk stratification for patients with VSR to guide treatment. The purpose of this study was to review the clinical outcomes of 70 patients with VSR, to analyze the short-term prognosis factors of VSR following AMI, and to make a risk stratification for patients with VSR. Methods A total of 70 consecutive VSR patients following AMI treated in our hospital from January 2002 to October 2010 were enrolled in this study retrospectively. The difference of clinical characteristics were observed between patients with VSR who survived <= 30 days and survived >30 days. We analyzed the short-term prognosis factors of VSR and established the short-term prognosis index of VSR (SPIV) based on the Logistic regression analysis to stratify patients with VSR. Results Among 12 354 patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, 70 (0.57%) patients (33 males and 37 females) were found to have VSR. The average age was (68.1 +/- 8.5) years. Fifty-four (77.1%) patients were diagnosed with an acute anterior infarction. Patients with VSR selected for surgical repair had better outcomes than patients treated conservatively; 1-year mortality 9.5% versus 87.8%, P<0.005. Logistic regression analysis revealed that female (P=0.013), anterior AMI (P=0.023), non-ventricular aneurysm (P=0.023), non-diabetes (P=0.009), Killip class 3 or 4 (P=0.022) and time from AMI to VSR less than 4 days (P=0.027) were independent risk determinants for short-term mortality. SPIV >= 9 indicates a high risk as the 30-day mortality is 77.4%; SPIV<8 indicates a low risk as the 30-day mortality is 28.6%; SPIV between 8 and 9 indicates a moderate risk. Conclusions VSR remains a rare but devastating complication of AMI. The independent risk determinants for short-term mortality of VSR were female gender, anterior AMI, non-ventricular aneurysm, non-diabetes, Killip class 3 or 4, and the time from AMI to VSR less than 4 days. It is reasonable to take more active treatments for the patients at high risk to save more lives.