Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy

Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy is defined as an acute myocardial stunning, occurring mainly in post menopausal women, after an acute stress. The typical clinical presentation is a chest pain mimicking an acute coronary syndrome and at left ventriculogram an akinesia of apical two third of left ventricle. Several clinical variants have been described. In 1/3 of cases, the pattern is basal or median. In 1/3 of cases, none acute stress is found. The existence of a concomitant coronary disease does no more exclude the diagnosis. The two more frequent characteristics are circumferencial dysfunction non compatible with coronary segmental localization and reversible evolution in few weeks. Unspecific complications are possible but the evolution is the complete recovery with a low recurrence rate (4%).