Introduction

In patients with acute myocardial infarction, left ventricular free wall rupture is an infrequent complication (2–4%) but it is associated with a high mortality from pericardial tamponade.^1-8 It accounts for 5–24% of all in hospital deaths related to acute myocardial infarction.⁴,⁶,⁹,¹⁰. To reduce this high mortality it is important to improve the way in which these patients are classified, as this may help clinicians anticipate myocardial rupture, prevent it occurring, and achieve better therapeutic results when it does occur. Left ventricular free wall rupture (LVFWR) is a rare complication that can occur after suffering a myocardial infarction (MI). The incidence of LVFWR has decreased dramatically over the years with the increased use of reperfusion strategies such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and fibrinolytic therapy, with an overall incidence ranging from 0.8% to 6.2%^[1]. LVFWR is most likely to occur 1–4 days after the initial myocardial insult, andis one of the more deadly complications of MI^[2]. 

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Dr Shashikant Singh