Cardiopulmonary resuscitation does not cause left ventricular rupture of the heart with acute myocardial infarction: a pathological analysis of 77 autopsy cases

Cardiac rupture during acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the most frequent causes of sudden cardiac death. However, some reports have indicated the possibility that the cardiac rupture during AMI may occur by external cardiac massage. We pathologically examined the hearts of 77 patients who died suddenly due to ventricular free wall rupture during AMI (51 men and 26 women; aged 47–94 years; mean age: 69.9 years). We divided the cases into two groups, 44 cases with and 33 cases without cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and compared the two groups with respect to 12 pathological items. There were no statistical differences in any of the investigated items between the two groups (P>0.05). In addition, mural thrombi were identified along the rupture tract in all cases. Moreover, they were more matured at the subendocardial zone than at the subepicardial or middle zone, irrespective of the groups. From the pathological findings, we concluded that the rupture of the left ventricle during AMI originates from the subendocardial region and precedes the external cardiac massage. Our present study strongly suggests that CPR does not cause the left ventricular rupture of the heart during AMI.