Publication Date
1-1-2013
Journal
The Texas Heart Journal
PMID
23467068
Publication Date(s)
2013
Language
English
PMCID
PMC3568277
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
1-1-2013
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-Print
Published Open-Access
yes
Keywords
Cardiomyopathies/diagnosis/physiopathology, echocardiography, takotsubo cardiomyopathy/diagnosis, ventricular dysfunction, left/diagnosis
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is characterized by the development of transient focal wall-motion abnormalities that involve the apical and midventricular segments, in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease. A variant, inverted takotsubo cardiomyopathy, was described in 2010. We report 3 cases in which each patient's transthoracic echocardiogram revealed the characteristic basal and midventricular segmental akinesis of this variant. This pattern is not associated with coronary artery distribution, and it therefore can be differentiated from coronary artery disease with the use of echocardiography, by evaluating the distribution and temporal changes of akinetic areas.