[Septal perforation of myocardial infarct. Progress and limitation of current treatment. Apropos of 28 recent cases].

The emergency treatment of septal perforation in a myocardial infarction was markedly improved by pre-operative preparation of the patient by an intra-aortic balloon. If one excludes 7 cases in which the favourable immediate course made possible a delayed operation, 21 cases, severe from the start, were observed in the last two years: 8 patients, were thought to be operable with 6 successes. The type of the patient, the age, the associated diseases, the gravity and extension of the local lesions explain that this complication nevertheless still remains very often beyond the present possibilities of the medical-surgical treatment.