[Diagnosis of ventricular septum rupture following acute myocardial infarct using a fiber-optic indwelling catheter].

Rupture of the ventricular septum is a rare complication of acute myocardial infarction. Time of diagnosis, hemodynamic condition, as well as duration and effectiveness of the preoperative treatment determine the clinical outcome after surgical repair. Since its introduction the bedside-applied Swan-Ganz catheter has maintained an important role for the rapid confirmation and quantitation of the infarct-induced ventricular septal rupture. We report on the clinical courses of two patients whose diagnoses were established by means of a fiberoptic-armed Swan-Ganz catheter. Accuracy of the measured oxygen saturation was controlled by in vitro gas analyses with heparinized blood samples. As compared to conventional methods the continuous in vivo oximetry by a fiber-optic system is a simple procedure which facilitates repeated shunt calculations during hemodynamic monitoring in critically ill patients.