Takotsubo syndrome may be associated with neuromuscular disorders, but has never been described in a patient with mitochondrial disorder. A 75-year-old woman developed muscle cramps, ptosis, fasciculations and slowly progressive weakness and wasting of all four limbs, starting 2.5 years earlier. After exclusion of various differential diagnoses, including non-specific granulomatous myositis, inclusion body myositis, and motor neuron disease, mitochondrial disorder was assumed. Muscle weakness progressed to respiratory insufficiency, requiring mechanical ventilation. Five days after intubation, she developed hypotension, torsades de pointes, ST-segment elevation, and negative T waves. Echocardiography revealed apical ballooning with akinesia of the left ventricular anteroseptal, apical, apicolateral and inferior segments. Coronary angiography was normal, and ventriculography confirmed apical hypokinesia and ballooning. Takotsubo syndrome was diagnosed, resolving completely within 7 weeks under bisoprolol. This case shows that Takotsubo syndrome occurs also in mitochondrial disorder and under mechanical ventilation, and may be triggered by stress from respiratory insufficiency, intubation, pain from tracheostomy, stress from mechanical ventilation, medication, or from the uncertain prognosis.
Objective: Cardiac involvement in X-linked Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (X-EDMD) usually includes arrhythmias but not dilative cardiomyopathy (dCMP). Here, we report an X-EDMD patient with severe dCMP and life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias associated with other phenotypic features unusual for X-EDMD. Case Report: A 46-year-old patient with X-EDMD due to the known splice-site mutation c.449 + 1G>A in the emerin gene experienced palpitations for the first time at the age of 21 years, and a first syncope at the age of 23 years. He was started on phenprocoumon due to atrial fibrillation and systolic dysfunction. At the age of 28 years he received his first pacemaker. Echocardiography at the age of 36 years showed left ventricular dilatation, enlarged atria, myocardial thickening, 28% ejection fraction and diastolic dysfunction. dCMP was suspected. At the age of 38 years, a cardiac resynchronization therapy system was implanted, which was upgraded to an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) because of ventricular tachycardias (at the age of 42 years). During the following months, the ICD discharged 30 times due to ventricular tachycardias. In May 2013, he required recurrent cardio-pulmonary resuscitation because ventricular fibrillation occurred with no discharge of the ICD. He was listed for heart transplantation. He also had hypothyroidism, liver hemangiomas, thrombopenia, anemia and diverticulosis. Conclusions: X-EDMD may occur along with dCMP. An ICD may be ineffective for ventricular fibrillation in X-EDMD. X-EDMD may be associated with unusual, atypical phenotypic features.
Recent data indicate that in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic teleangiectasia (HHT), low iron levels due to inadequate replacement after hemorrhagic iron losses are associated with elevated factor-VIII plasma levels and consecutively increased risk of venous thrombo-embolism. Here, we report a patient with HHT, low iron levels, elevated factor-VIII, and recurrent venous thrombo-embolism. A 64-year-old multimorbid Serbian gipsy was diagnosed with HHT at age 62 years. He had a history of recurrent epistaxis, teleangiectasias on the lips, renal and pulmonary arterio-venous malformations, and a family history positive for HHT. He had experienced recurrent venous thrombosis (mesenteric vein thrombosis, portal venous thrombosis, deep venous thrombosis), insufficiently treated with phenprocoumon during 16 months and gastro-intestinal bleeding. Blood tests revealed sideropenia and elevated plasma levels of coagulation factor-VIII. His history was positive for diabetes, arterial hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, cerebral abscess, recurrent ischemic stroke, recurrent ileus, peripheral arterial occluding disease, polyneuropathy, mild renal insufficiency, and epilepsy. Following recent findings, hypercoagulability was attributed to the sideropenia-induced elevation of coagulation factor-VIII. In conclusion, HHT may be associated with hypercoagulability due to elevated factor-VIII associated with low serum iron levels from recurrent bleeding. Iron substitution may prevent HHT patients from hypercoagulability.
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