• Jung-Hee Lee, Jae-Sun Uhm, Dong Geum Shin, Boyoung Joung, Hui-Nam Pak, Young-Guk Ko, Geu-Ru Hong, and Moon-Hyoung Lee.
• Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Severance Cardiovascular Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• Korean J. Intern. Med. 2016 May 1; 31 (3): 507-16.

Background/AimsAlthough transient changes in the electrocardiogram (ECG) of patients with stress-induced cardiomyopathy (SCMP) are common, there are little data about ECG changes in patients with SCMP and the clinical implications of these variations.MethodsWe investigated a total of 128 patients (age, 63.2 ± 15.4 years; female, 60.9%) diagnosed with SCMP. We compared the ECGs taken after SCMP diagnosis and during the recovery phase to those taken before SCMP diagnosis under baseline conditions. All patients were divided into two groups according to corrected QT (QTc) interval changes: recovered QTc group (QTc in SCMP > QTc in recovery phase, n = 77) and nonrecovered QTc group (QTc in SCMP ≤ QTc in recovery phase, n = 51).ResultsIn comparison of baseline, SCMP, and recovery phase, we found the mean heart rate (81.5 ± 18.7, 96.8 ± 25.3, and 83.0 ± 19.4/min, respectively; p < 0.001), frequencies of ST segment elevation (0.0%, 8.6%, and 1.6%, p = 0.004), ST segment depression (0.0%, 6.3%, and 1.6%, p = 0.007), T wave inversion (4.4 %, 43.8%, and 61.7%, p < 0.001), and QTc (447.4 ± 35.3, 488.9 ± 67.1, and 468.0 ± 49.5, p < 0.001) showed significant changes. In-hospital mortality (9.1% vs. 25.5%, p = 0.012) and critical care (54.5% vs. 72.5%, p = 0.040) occurred more frequently in the nonrecovered QTc group than in recovered QTc group.ConclusionsThe QTc can be prolonged in patients with SCMP. Short-term mortality was increased in patients where the QTc did not recover.

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