[Rupture of the interventricular septum in acute myocardial infarct: diagnosis by Doppler color code. Clinical case].

Doppler Color Flow Mapping represents the most recent step in the evolution of Doppler techniques that display blood flow signals superimposed on real time, two dimensional echocardiographic images. The following case illustrates the utility of this technique in the diagnosis of a ventricular septal rupture complicating the course of an inferior wall acute myocardial re-infarction. An abnormal blood flow pattern from the left to right ventricle through the ventricular septum was promptly visualized. Early operative intervention may improve the prognosis of acute infarct-related ventricular septal rupture; Doppler Color Flow Mapping and Pulsed Doppler Echocardiography are at present the most rapid and reliable noninvasive techniques in the detection of post-infarct ventricular septal rupture and may greatly expedite medical and surgical management.