Rupture of the right auricle of the heart

Abstract 1.1. A case of apparently spontaneous rupture of the right auricle is reported in a supposedly normal individual where trauma and excessive exertion were absent. 2.2. Serial electrocardiograms in this case showing changes suggestive of coronary occlusion are presented for the first time. 3.3. Histological study revealed a pre-existing obliterating endarteritis with interstitial hemorrhage and infaretion of the auricular wall, leading to rupture, a process essentially similar to that causing rupture of the ventricle. 4.4. The clinical and pathological features of rupture of the auricle based on a review of 54 cases in the literature, plus the one here deseribed, are diseussed. 5.5. The large incidence of rupture of the auricle before the fortieth year of life, 47.7 per cent, as against 6.7 per cent for ventricular rupture, is pointed out.