Fact-sheet: Tako Tsubo cardiomyopathy - transient apical ballooning
Updated on 09/17/2021 at 12:16 PM
View all RADEOS cases associated with this fact-sheet
Definition
Transient acute non-ischemic cardiomyopathy triggered by intense emotional stress.
A reversible form of cardiomyopathy.
Clinical features
- Initial phase: overcome heart failure.
- Then full functional recovery observed within a few days without significant tissue destruction, as would be seen following a transient coronary occlusion.
MRI
- apical, sometimes antero-basal dyskinesia (Haghi 2007 series)
- anterior ballooning or vase-like appearance of the LV
- absence of myocardial injury (no pathological gadolinium retention following the acute event)
- absence of post-gadolinium wall abnormality
- occasionally, reversible post-gadolinium hyperintensity, notably in one case of Takotsubo following a high-dose dobutamine test
- in the acute phase, T2 hyperintensity in the dyskinetic anterior wall
Vascular intervention
- normal coronary angiography (differential diagnosis of MI)
- ventriculography: extensive antero-apical dyskinesia.
Differential diagnosis
LAD MI