Septal rupture closure: Still a challenge.

Review of the Medicare database shows that over the past 16 years the incidence of post- myocardial infarction (MI) ventricular septal rupture (VSR) has decreased but mortality for all post-MI VSR hospitalizations remains unchanged and high During the study period, the 30-day VSR repair rate decreased from 49.9% in 1999 to 33.3% in 2014. Unadjusted mortality was lower for patients undergoing repair procedures than for those not undergoing repair both at 30 days and at 1-year. Most VSR patients underwent surgical repair (82.9%) and only a minority underwent transcatheter repair (17.1%). Regardless of the approach, outcomes remain unsatisfactory.