Cardiac rupture (CR) is a life-threatening mechanical complication of acute myocardial infarction (MI). CR subsumes 3 pathogenetic entities in descending order of frequency including (i) free wall rupture (FWR), (ii) ventricular septal rupture (VSR) and (iii) papillary muscle rupture (PMR). The incidence of CR decreased from 6.2% to 3.2% in parallel with a progressive use of revascularization p...

Intramyocardial dissecting haematoma is a rare form of cardiac rupture that can occur as a complication following acute myocardial infarction or during the remodelling process. It is usually caused by a haemorrhagic dissection among the spiral myocardial fibres and needs urgent surgical treatment. Here we report the case of a 67-year-old man with indications of a previous infarction, in whom a ...

Pathological data are given of 4 patients in whom the development of cardiac rupture was the initial sign of myocardial infarction. The term 'concealed cardiac rupture' is proposed for this condition. In each instance the clinical diagnosis was 'onset of infarction', whereas the necropsy suggested that the acute onset of symptoms was caused by the start of rupture. The arguments for classifying...

We report on the experimental observation of spontaneously nucleated supershear rupture and on the visualization of sub-Rayleigh-to-supershear rupture transitions in frictionally held interfaces. The laboratory experiments mimic natural earthquakes. The results suggest that under certain conditions supershear rupture propagation can be facilitated during large earthquake events.

We study nanoindentation and scratching of graphene-covered Pt(111) surfaces in computer simulations and experiments. We find elastic response at low load, plastic deformation of Pt below the graphene at intermediate load, and eventual rupture of the graphene at high load. Friction remains low in the first two regimes, but jumps to values also found for bare Pt(111) surfaces upon graphene ruptu...

Wallaby tail tendons fail after repeated application of stresses much lower than would be needed to break them in a single pull. We show that this a fatigue phenomenon, distinct from the creep rupture that occurs after prolonged application of a constant stress. The two phenomena are disctinguished by experiments in which tensile stress is cycled at different frequencies, ranging from 1 to 50 Hz.

A successful simultaneous surgical repair of rupture of the interventricular septum and left ventricular aneurysm resulting from myocardial infarction is described. Very few similar cases have been described in the literature and in none was angiocardiography performed before operation. Preoperative angiocardiographic examination to demonstrate a ventricular aneurysm is of major importance in a...

Rupture of advanced human atherosclerotic plaques can precipitate coronary thrombosis, myocardial infarction, and sudden death, but insights into the causes and treatment of plaque rupture have been hampered by lack of a suitable animal model. Particularly desirable would be a model of plaque rupture that would take advantage of current and forthcoming mouse mutant alleles. It is therefore of c...

Non-penetrating cardiac traumatisms can cause cardiac rupture, myocardial contusion or, rarely, commotio cordis. In cases of rupture of a cardiac cavity, acute and severe cardiac tamponade almost invariably occurs. This paper presents an exceptionally unusual case of non-penetrating cardiac trauma resulting in right atrium rupture contained by the pericardial cavity. A situation of exceptional ...

Mitral papillary muscle rupture is usually caused by ischaemia as a complication of myocardial infarction. In a 76 year old patient with no significant disease or major cardiovascular risk factors, papillary muscle rupture was caused by obstructive intramural coronary amyloidosis, an unusual cause.