Chronic oral vasodilator therapy to control heart failure in postinfarction ventricular septal defect

This report describes a 70-year-old woman with biventricular failure following an anteroseptal infarction complicated by interventricular septal rupture. Treatment with nitroprusside followed by oral hydralazine eliminated the failure and reduced the shunt from 2.75 to 1 to 1.7 to 1. She is asymptomatic post-discharge. Chronic medical therapy including oral vasodilators may be an acceptable alternative to surgery in a small minority of patients with this complication of myocardial infarction.