Repair of calcified left ventricular pseudoaneurysm of long duration

Abstract

Cardiac pseudoaneurysm is a contained rupture of the myocardium limited by pericardial adhesions or the epicardial wall. Cardiac pseudoaneurysm may cause sudden death with a mortality of 30-45% in the first year, mostly resulting from rupture. Coronal and axial T2-weighted magnetic resonance images of a 65-year-old male patient admitted with dyspnoea, coughing and chest pain, present for the last 10 days, revealed a large pseudoaneursym of the left ventricle. Coronary bypass and left ventricular restoration operation was performed. The patient was eventlessly discharged 8 days after operation. He is in NYHA Class I 21 months postoperatively. The interval between myocardial insult and establishment of diagnosis is unknown in our patient. This is a patient whose left ventricular rupture had been contained for a very long time, possibly years, because a heavily calcified thick pseudoaneurysm wall was encountered during operation, making this case rare in the literature.