[Emergency surgical treatment of septal perforations in the acute phase of myocardial infarct. Apropos of 2 cases operated on successfully in the 48th hour and 5th day after development after the necrosis].

The authors report two personal cases of septal perforation during the acute phase of myocardial infarction which under medical treatment would have been rapidly fatal, and which were treated successfully by surgery on the second and fifth days respectively after the infarction, i.e. very early. After briefly recalling the main diagnostic and etiological factors of this serious complication, and the spontaneous prognosis which is usually catastrophic, they emphasise that in presence of poorly controlled heart failure and cardiogenic shock, uncontrollable by intensive medical treatment, only early surgical repair during the first few hours or days of the course of the coronary accident will permit one in certain cases to avoid a fatal issue as proved by their two cases and a review of recent publications. They emphasis the place of circulatory assistance by intraaortic balloon in the preparation of patients for operation and the methods of mycardial revascularisatin during the operation.