[Surgical correction of complete rupture of the anterior papillary muscle complicating acute myocardial infarction].

A 71-year-old female patient with complete post infarction rupture of the anterior papillary muscle and severe congestive heart failure is presented. The diagnosis was determined by echocardiography and cardiac catheterization. Two days after the acute episode, the patient underwent emergency mitral valve replacement with an ATS 27 M prosthetic valve. The mitral annulus was edematous and friable. Postoperatively, the patient improved dramatically. In this case, two factors were important-repairing the nonfunctioning mitral valve as soon as possible and handling the friable mitral annulus with great care.