[The progression of a postinfarct interventricular communication: an echocardiographic follow-up]

An 80-year-old female patient presented rupture of the interventricular septum as complication of acute anteroseptal myocardial infarction. Serial echocardiographic studies documented progressive increase in size of the apical defect over 16 hours. This observation highlights a potential hazard if surgical repair is deferred to "stabilize" hemodynamically the patient before the intervention.