Rupture of the Heart after Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

CARDIAC rupture with hemorrhage into the pericardium has long been recognized as a dramatic and rapidly fatal complication of myocardial infarction. Despite its invariably fatal termination, rupture of the heart has attracted the interest of physicians since its original description by Harvey¹ in 1647.At the Mallory Institute, the pathological department of the Boston City Hospital, interest in this subject was renewed by the observation of several cases of cardiac rupture in rapid succession. This suggested an increased frequency of this complication and presented the possibility that newly introduced methods of therapy favor cardiorrhexis.It was thus considered that a . . .