[Auriculo-ventricular perforation in bacterial endocarditis. Surgical treatment]

The authors report a case of bacterial endocarditis during which the precise nature of the heart lesions were only discovered at operation. There left ventricle and right atrium. The characteristics of the systolic murmur and the findings on phonocardiography together with left ventricular angiography had suggested mitral incompetence. There were no conduction disorders in this patient which might have helped in preoperative diagnosis. In connection with this case, the authors recall the characteristics of aneuryms of the membranous septum and congenital or acquired communications between the left venticle and the right atrium.