An unusual cause for reintervention after coronary artery bypass grafting

A CUTE myocardial infarction (MI) may be followed by severe complications leading to rapid hemodynamic deterioration. Well-known examples are pump failure secondary to loss of left ventricular mass, ventricular fibrillation, ventricular septal rupture, and papillary muscle rupture. Any patient with a recent MI who has to undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) because of postinfarction angina can sustain these complications in the postoperative period. This case describes a patient who developed cardiovascular collapse in the early postoperative period of a CABG, probably as a sequela of the recent myocardial infarction.