Clinical manifestation of early phase left ventricular rupture complicating acute myocardial infarction in the primary PCI era.

Objective: Before reperfusion therapy was introduced, the incidence of ventricular septal and left ventricular free wall rupture complicating acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was 1-3%. Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was expected to reduce the incidence of such mechanical complications.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 1290 AMI patients referred to our institute from January 2005 to January 2011.