• Salvatore Novo, Yoshihiro Akashi, Eloisa Arbustini, Pasquale Assennato, Salvatore Azzarelli, Giuseppe Barbaro, Giovanni Fazio, Francesco Fedele, Massimo Giordan, Pietro Mazzarotto, Maria Grazia Modena, Giuseppina Novo, Guido Parodi, Mario Previtali, Claudio Rapezzi, Francesca Sconci, Paolo Sganzerla, Francesco Tona, and Jorge A Salerno-Uriarte.
• Cattedra di Malattie dell Apparato Cardiovascolare, Università degli Studi, A.O.U. Policlinico, P. Giaccone, Via del Vespro, 129, 90127 Palermo. novosav@unipa.it
• G Ital Cardiol (Rome). 2008 Nov 1; 9 (11): 785-97.

AbstractTakotsubo cardiomyopathy is a syndrome characterized by acute regional systolic dysfunction of the left ventricle, frequently related to psycho-physical acute stress, and usually reversible. This rare syndrome involves more often the female sex with the highest frequency of occurrence between the seventh and eighth decade of life. Etiology has not been clarified yet and several hypotheses have been postulated: multiple epicardial coronary artery damage, abnormal coronary microcirculation, catecholamine-mediated cardiac toxicity, and neurogenic stunning. Clinical presentation is not easy to distinguish from an acute coronary syndrome: chest pain at rest or dyspnea, new-onset electrocardiographic changes, characterized by ST-segment elevation or T-wave inversion. Coronary angiography, which should be performed within 48 h of symptom onset in order to be diagnostic, excludes the presence of significant atherosclerotic stenosis or plaque rupture. Ventricular angiography shows the typical regional wall motion abnormalities (apical akinesia and hyperkinesia of the mid-basal segments) that give to the syndrome its name (takotsubo is a traditional Japanese octopus trap or pot). Echocardiography performed in the acute phase also evidences wall motion abnormalities that characteristically regress in the following days. There is no specific treatment for this syndrome, but supportive and symptomatic therapy is usually administered.

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