Atypical Stress Cardiomyopathy: A Case Report

Abstract

Stress cardiomyopathy is a reversible cause of cardiomyopathy characterized by a transient dysfunction in left ventricular systolic function. It is most common in postmenopausal women and usually occurs following an emotional and/or physical stressor. The classical imaging finding is described as left ventricular apical ballooning. However, several rare variants have been reported with a strikingly different regional distribution of wall motion abnormalities. We describe a case of a 65-year-old female who was found to have stress cardiomyopathy with variant wall motion abnormality on the left ventriculogram without a preceding stressor event. We postulate that there may be a link between stress-induced cardiomyopathy without a preceding stressor event and variant wall motion abnormality patterns.

An Extensive Review on Imaging Diagnosis Methods in Takotsubo Syndrome

“…However, coronary artery disease is not an exclusion criteria [ 25 ]. The main reason is that the regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) extend beyond the vascularization of a single coronary artery [ 26 ]. Even if the patient has coronary artery disease, it is not an exclusion criteria if the depending myocardial territory is not concordant with the wall motion abnormalities [ 27 , 28 ].…”

“…Thirty-seven patients with RWMA, non-obstructive coronary arteries, ECG abnormalities and elevated troponin underwent CMR evaluation. Four patients were diagnosed with myocarditis, 7 patients with myocardial infarction and the rest [ 26 ] were diagnosed with TS [ 110 ]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were a few cases of vaccine associated myocarditis reported [ 116 ].…”