AN AUTOPSY CASE OF INCOMPLETE LEFT ATRIAL RUPTURE FOLLOWING LEFT ATRIAL INFARCTION ASSOCIATED WITH LEFT-VENTRICULAR MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

We report a 78-year-old woman with incomplete left atrial, rupture fol lowing left atrial infarction associated with left ventricular myocard ial infarction. An autopsy revealed a hemopericardium. A large hematom a was observed in the posterior wall of the left atrium and a few smal l tears were found on the same wall. Near its origin, the left circumf lex artery was severely sclerotic and completely occluded by fresh thr ombus. Histologic examination revealed that large intramural hematoma longitudinally dissected the inner third of the posterior wall of the left atrium, and transversely dissected through the necrotic tissue to the pericardial sac to result in rupture. Coagulation necrosis and in tramyocardial hemorrhage were also observed throughout the entire left atrium and the postseptolateral wall of the left ventricle.