Acute papillary muscle rupture in a patient with clostridial sepsis.

We describe the clinical course of a 58-year-old man who died from acute papillary muscle rupture as a complication of clostridial sepsis. There was no evidence for myocardial infarction, infective endocarditis, prior chest trauma or other known causes of papillary muscle rupture. Histological specimens taken at autopsy demonstrated clostridial infection of the heart. To our knowledge the occurrence of papillary muscle rupture in the setting of clostridial sepsis has not yet been reported in the literature.