[Shock secondary to right ventricular infarction (author's transl)]

The diagnosis of right ventricular infarction was made in a patient with acute inferior myocardial infarction on the basis of: right atrial pressure higher than pulmonary capillary pressure, increase of echocardiographic diameter, and abnormal technetium pyrophosphate deposit on the right ventricle. The patient developed a severe shock syndrome of 30 hours duration, which was successfully corrected with massive fluid volume replacement. Study of ventricular functions suggested right ventricular infarction as the cause of shock, since this ventricle showed a greater degree of functional impairment.