RIGHT VENTRICULAR INFARCTION AND REFRACTORY HYPOXEMIA FOLLOWING CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT SURGERY

Abstract

Right ventricular (RV) infarction occurs in 19% to 51% of patients with left ventricular inferior wall acute myocardial infarction.^1,2 The importance of RV infarction and its unique hemodynamic consequences were not well understood until the early 1970s. Among these consequences are hemodynamic disturbances, which may be mistaken for left ventricular dysfunction, pericardial tamponade, and pulmonary embolism. Another serious consequence associated with RV infarction is sudden right-to-left shunting through a previously unsuspected atrial septal defect (ASD) or patent foramen ovale (PFO). We herein describe a patient in whom postoperative RV infarction was associated with refractory hypoxemia through a PFO.