Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of rupture size on surgical outcomes of ventricular septal rupture. Methods: During a 15-year period, from Jan 2006 to Dec 2020, 112 patients underwent repairs of postinfarction ventricular septal rupture. Data were collected on clinical, angiographic, and echocardiographic findings; operative procedures; early morbidity and mortality; and survival time. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed to identify risk factors of 30-day mortality. Results: Thirty-day mortality was 7.1% for the whole cohort. The mean survival time estimate was 147.2 (95% Cl 135.6-158.9) months, with a 3-year survival rate of 91.2% and a 5-year survival rate of 89.0%. Multivariable analysis regarded rupture enlargement gradient as an independent risk factor of 30-day mortality. The ROC curve indicated that rupture enlargement gradient predicted 30-day mortality with high accuracy. Conclusions: Delayed surgery could be considered for patients who respond well to aggressive treatment. Rupture enlargement gradient is an independent risk factor for postoperative 30-days morality of delayed VSR repair and has good predictive power for the prognosis of VSR patients.

Infectious endocarditis (IE) is a rare condition with an estimated yearly incidence of 3 to 10 cases per 100,000 people[1]. Its in-hospital mortality rate hovers around 18%, with one-year mortality reaching up to 40%[2]. Although nearly 50% of IE cases now undergo surgical intervention, it does not appear to elevate the in-hospital mortality risk[3]. Wei et al conducted a study on the relationship between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) value and postoperative death of IE patients. Their most remarkable finding was the in-hospital mortality rate was significantly higher in the High RDW group(55.6%vs.2.7%)[4]. Their results suggestted that RDW may become a valuable biomarker for estimating poor postoperative outcome in patients with IE. RDW reflects the variable size of circulating red blood cells and is routinely used to narrow the differential diagnosis of anemia. However, many studies had revealed that RDW maybe a new prognostic marker to predict the cardiovascular event. The increased value have been always linked with inflammatory and oxidative states. Further studies are required to explore the mechanism for the relationship between the RDW and adverse clinical outcomes.