Surgical treatment of acquired left ventricular pseudoaneurysms

Background. We present a review of our experience with acquired pseudoaneurysms of the left ventricle in order to establish the risk of surgical repair. Methods. Ten patients operated upon for a left ventricular pseudoaneurysm in our clinic between 1984 and 1999 were reviewed. The pseudoaneurysm, a complication of myocardial infarction (four acute and three chronic) or previous cardiac surgery (three chronic), was resected in all patients and the ventricular wall defect closed with direct sutures (five cases) or a patch (five cases). Coronary artery bypass graft was performed in 6 patients. Results. Three patients died (postoperative mortality 30%) after repair of an acute postinfarction (2 patients) or a chronic postsurgical (1 patient) pseudoaneurysm. Three patients died during follow-up (median 4 years) of a carcinological (2 patients) or cardiac (1 patient) cause. Two years after repair, 5 patients were in New York Heart Association class I or II, and 1 patient was in class III. Conclusions. Repair of left ventricular pseudoaneurysms can be performed with acceptable results, although mortality is significant in acute myocardial infarction and redo operations. Propensity for fatal rupture, however, is higher than the surgical risk in acute pseudoaneurysms or in large or expanding chronic ones and warrants surgical repair. The best approach to small asymptomatic chronic pseudoaneurysm is unsettled.