A 45-year-old woman presented to Emergency Department at Yatharth Super Speciality Hospital, Noida Extension, with sinking sensation and a history of chest pain for a couple of days. According to her husband, she had been dismissing her symptoms as gastritis. Upon evaluation by the Cardiology team, it was found to be an evolving Acute MI (Myocardial Infarction) with cardiogenic shock. The blood pressure was very low. The cardiology and cardiac anesthesia teams initiated adequate resuscitation in the Cardiac Care Unit (CCU).  An echocardiogram revealed signs of impending cardiac tamponade.  A coronary angiogram (CAG) further confirmed triple vessel disease (TVD), pericardial effusion, and a free wall rupture with an active slow leak. 

Given the severity of her condition, the cardiac sciences team decided on an emergency coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with repair of the free wall rupture. An emergency surgery was done, giving her 3 good grafts and repair of the free wall rupture. She was shifted to the ICU in a stable condition with minimal inotropic support. She was extubated on the subsequent day. She made a full recovery and was discharged on the seventh post-operative day.

LV rupture is one of the most dreaded complications of Acute Heart attack, with more than 80 percent mortality in such cases. Many patients either fail to reach the hospital in time or arrive in a condition too critical to be saved. Even in surgical cases, the risk remains extremely high. Despite these odds, the expert cardiac surgery team at Yatharth Hospital successfully navigated this life-threatening emergency, ultimately saving a precious life