TY - JOUR
T1 - Subepicardial aneurysms
T2 - A rare complication of myocardial infarction
AU - Epstein, Jonathan I.
AU - Hutchins, Grover M.
N1 - Funding Information:
From the department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland. This work was supported by NIH Grant HL-17655 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Grover M. Hutchins, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland 21205. Manuscript accepted March 3. 1963.
PY - 1983/10
Y1 - 1983/10
N2 - Delayed rupture of myocardial infarcts, more than 10 days after infarction, is only rarely observed at autopsy. Of 1,814 hearts examined after postmortem arteriography from autopsy subjects at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, 704 had 1,140 infarcts. Three (0.2 percent) infarcts were complicated by subepicardial aneurysms, and two of these had ruptured. The infarcts were 21 to 60 days old and had an abrupt dissection of the inferior left ventricular myocardium with a narrow fibrous lined channel comprising the mouth and neck of the aneurysm. The components of the aneurysm wall differed in all three cases. In two, epicardium prevented acute ventricular rupture. In the third case, myocardial fibers were present in the fibrous wall proximally. Adherent parietal pericardium was absent. Previous authors have required the lack of myocardium within the wall to define those lesions, often called pseudoaneurysms. Aneurysms with myocardium have been labeled true aneurysms or pseudo-false aneurysms. A more unifying concept of this lesion is proposed. The unique constellation of features consisting of an abrupt interruption of the myocardium, a narrow neck, and a propensity to rupture spontaneously distinguishes the subepicardial aneurysm regardless of its wall's components. The ability to surgically correct the potentially lethal subepicardial aneurysms necessitates a more accurate categorization of and familiarity with the lesion.
AB - Delayed rupture of myocardial infarcts, more than 10 days after infarction, is only rarely observed at autopsy. Of 1,814 hearts examined after postmortem arteriography from autopsy subjects at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, 704 had 1,140 infarcts. Three (0.2 percent) infarcts were complicated by subepicardial aneurysms, and two of these had ruptured. The infarcts were 21 to 60 days old and had an abrupt dissection of the inferior left ventricular myocardium with a narrow fibrous lined channel comprising the mouth and neck of the aneurysm. The components of the aneurysm wall differed in all three cases. In two, epicardium prevented acute ventricular rupture. In the third case, myocardial fibers were present in the fibrous wall proximally. Adherent parietal pericardium was absent. Previous authors have required the lack of myocardium within the wall to define those lesions, often called pseudoaneurysms. Aneurysms with myocardium have been labeled true aneurysms or pseudo-false aneurysms. A more unifying concept of this lesion is proposed. The unique constellation of features consisting of an abrupt interruption of the myocardium, a narrow neck, and a propensity to rupture spontaneously distinguishes the subepicardial aneurysm regardless of its wall's components. The ability to surgically correct the potentially lethal subepicardial aneurysms necessitates a more accurate categorization of and familiarity with the lesion.
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U2 - 10.1016/0002-9343(83)90450-3
DO - 10.1016/0002-9343(83)90450-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 6624771
AN - SCOPUS:0020511727
SN - 0002-9343
VL - 75
SP - 639
EP - 644
JO - American Journal of Medicine
JF - American Journal of Medicine
IS - 4
ER -