Replacement of myocardium with a Dacron prosthesis for complications of acute myocardial infarction.

Abstract

From July 1983 to April 1986, four patients (three with ventricular septal perforations and one with left ventricular free-wall rupture) underwent replacement of the myocardium with a Dacron prosthesis for complications of acute myocardial infarction. There were three males and one female, ages ranging from 53 to 70 years (mean 63.3). Three of the four patients survived; the one with the ventricular septal perforation died of severe cardiac failure five days after operation. Replacement of the infarcted myocardium with a Dacron prosthesis seems to be an excellent operative technique for the treatment of complications of acute myocardial infarction when the left ventricular cavity is predicted to be small after resection of the myocardium.