Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a bridge to definite surgery in recurrent postinfarction ventricular septal defect

A recurrent shunt after a postinfarction ventricular septal defect (PI-VSD) repair is common. We treated a case of cardiogenic shock caused by a large recurrent shunt after the patch repair of an apical PI-VSD with percutaneous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for 4 days until a secondary definite repair. This suggests that percutaneous ECMO support is reliable before and after secondary definitive surgery in recurrent PI-VSD and may imply using a delayed surgical strategy with ECMO support to restore hemodynamic stability and avoid primary surgery on freshly fragile infarcted myocardium.