Rupture of the posterior wall of the left heart at the atrio-ventricular groove following mitral valve replacement.

The authors report 8 cases of left heart rupture at the insertion of the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve out of 693 mitral valve replacements. Special attention is paid to the anatomy of this area and to the technique of removal of annular calcifications, when present. In reviewing the literature, the authors analyze the cases reported up to now with particular reference to the age of patients, number of valves replaced, size and amount of calcifications, volume of the left ventricular cavity, type and size of the prosthesis employed, supra- or subannular insertion, time between valve application and rupture of the heart, techniques of repair with cardiopulmonary by-pass with a beating or arrested heart. The authors maintain that this dramatic iatrogenic complication can be avoided in most instances with some modifications of the surgical technique which has been adopted in the last 200 mitral valve replacements.