Isolated right ventricular rupture: a rare complication of myocardial infarction.

Right ventricular rupture is a rare complication after myocardial infarction and a few cases were reported. We present the case of a 65-year-old Caucasian man with inferior and right ventricular myocardial infarction which was complicated by right ventricular rupture following successful percutaneous revascularization. The transthoracic echocardiography revealed right ventricular free wall rupture with pericardial effusion. The patient underwent a pericardial drainage by pericardiotomy without myocardial repair because of the self-limiting pattern of the right ventricular free wall rupture. The formation of a mural thrombus at the small rupture site limited the leakage and contributed to the outstanding favourable prognosis of the patient with early revascularization even without surgical repair.