Late surgical repair of ventricular septal defect due to nonpenetrating chest trauma: review and report of two contrasting cases.

Traumatic rupture of the interventricular septum is a rare condition usually presenting in infancy and childhood. This report describes two cases: a 3-year-old boy operated on soon after the diagnosis was made, and a 15-year-old girl operated on 12 years following the causative accident. Both patients had the diagnosis confirmed by cardiac catheterization. The typical appearance of a traumatic ventricular septal defect (VSD) was seen during surgical repair that was successfully carried out in both patients. The protracted clinical course of the second patient, eventually requiring corrective intervention, contributes to the understanding of natural history of traumatic VSD.