Myocardial embolus to coronary artery: result of rupture of papillary muscle during acute myocardial infarction.

A patient is described with acute myocardial infarction complicated by rupture of a papillary muscle. A surprise finding at necropsy was a fragment of necrotic myocardium, similar to that at the site of papillary muscle rupture, in one coronary artery. Myocardial embolism to a coronary artery has not been described previously to our knowledge.