Post-traumatic interventricular communication. Closure under extracorporeal circulation.

Report of one case of acquired traumatic interventricular septal defect due to a stab injury of the right ventricle by a knife. The highly-placed penetrating injury involved the muscular septum and very probably resulted in a right bundle-branch block of the His system. Surgical operation performed in view of a starting clinical intolerance with moderately increased right cardiac pressures, was done under ECC with easy suture of the septal wound. The post-operative course was normal and a quick clinical cure was noted, which persisted for 8 months after surgery. The interest of this case, in addition to the very severe condition of the patient who had sustained 11 stab-knife wounds, lies in the high localization of the septal wound, which explains the involvement of the intracardiac conduction pathways.