| Clinical Manifestations of Novel Stressinduced Cardiomyopathy Mimicking Acute Myocardial Infarction: Single Center Emergency Department, Retrospective Study |
| In Cheol Jo, Hyoung Gon Song, Ik Joon Jo |
| Department of Emergency Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. ikjoonjo@smc.samsung.co.kr |
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| ABSTRACT |
PURPOSE:
"Stress-induced cardiomyopathy"or "Takotsubo cardiomyopathy", which mimics acute myocardial infarction (AMI), has recently been reported, particularly in Japan.
However, little is known about the characteristics of this syndrome. We retrospectively evaluated twenty-three cases of this novel syndrome.
METHODS:
We analyzed twenty-three patients(7 men and 16 women) who fulfilled the following inclusion criteria: 1) age >18 years old; 2) no previous cardiac disease, especially coronary artery disease; 3) acute onset of symptoms; 4) ST segment elevation or depression and/or T-wave inversion on ECG; 5) cardiac enzyme elevation; 6) regional wall motion abnormality in the echocardiogram or left ventriculogram; 7) no significant stenosis in the coronary angiogram.
RESULTS:
The most common stressful conditions that preceded the chest pain were: emotional stress (n=8, 34.8%), medical illness (n=7, 30.4%), accident (n=3, 13.1%), and recovery from surgery (n=3, 13.1%). The average initial creatinine kinase MB fraction and cardiac troponin I level were 32.2+/-51.7 ng/ml and 4.11+/-19.7 ng/ml, respectively. ECG changes [ST-segment elevation or depression (n=10, 43.5%) and T-wave inversion (n=19, 82.6%)] were usually found, whereas in contrast a Q wave was rarely found (n=3, 13.4%).
The average left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was decreased to 43.2+/-12.2% and regional wall motion abnormality [apex only (n=11, 47.8%), global (n=7, 30.4%)] was found on the initial echocardiograms. Upon follow-up echocardiograms, the average LVEF was improved to 60.6+/-5.8% and regional wall motion abnormality was normalized in all patients.
CONCLUSION:
Stress-induced cardiomyopathy, mimicking AMI, is triggered by psychologically and physically stressful events. This condition is characterized by a distinctive form of systolic dysfunction and favorable outcomes with medical therapy. |
| Key words:
Stress, Cardiomyopathy, Electrocardiogram, Echocardiogram |
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