Ventricular septal rupture is a rare complication of acute myocardial infarction and is usually fatal if not surgically repaired.1 Two-dimensional2 and color Doppler3-6 surface echocardiography are sensitive in its detection, but their main limitation is the presence of small acoustic windows in some patients. However, the recently introduced technique of transesophageal echocardiography has circumvented this limitation to a large extent. This study evaluates the usefulness of color Doppler transesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis of ventricular septal rupture after acute myocardial infarction. © 1993.
