Cor Vasa 2007, 49(12):454-458 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2007.159

Left ventricular lateral wall pseudoaneurysm

Karel Kopřiva¹, Ondřej Aschermann¹, Eva Mandysová¹, Petr Kmoníček¹, Pavel Formánek¹, Miloš Táborský¹, Josef Vymazal²

¹ Kardiologické oddělení

² Radiodiagnostické oddělení, Nemocnice Na Homolce, Praha, Česká republika

Left ventricular pseudoaneurysm is a rare complication of myocardial infarction. Since the risk of rupture is many times higher compared with that of true aneurysm, an ability to distinguish one condition from the other is critical for the decision-making on the therapeutic procedure. As symptoms, physical examination, ECG, and chest x-ray are non-specific in most cases, the techniques playing the most important role in the diagnosis of pseudoaneurysm include ventriculography, echocardiography, and more recently, magnetic resonance imaging and cardiac computed tomography. The authors present the case of a 75-year-old female patient developing a lateral wall pseudoaneurysm about three weeks after a Q-wave myocardial infarction. Current concepts regarding the incidence, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of left ventricular pseudoaneurysm are reviewed.

Keywords: Left ventricular pseudoaneurysm; Rupture; Myocardial infarction; Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging

Published: December 1, 2007  Show citation