Surgery on a patient with iatrogenic aortic valve leaflet perforation after repair of a congenital ventricular septal defect.

Aortic valve regurgitation caused by a leaflet perforation occurs most often with infective endocarditis involving the aortic valve. Although rare, leaflet perforation can be caused by suture-related injury during cardiac operations, such as mitral valve replacement, ventricular septal defect (VSD) repair, and repair of an ostium primum atrial septal defect. Few reports have described this form of iatrogenic aortic valve leaflet perforation. We used a pericardial patch in a successful repair of an iatrogenic perforation in an aortic valve leaflet that occurred after simple VSD repair.