ED echo of reverse Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy: a rare and misleading finding

Abstract

Tako-tsubo transient cardiomyopathy (TCM) is a syndrome of specific myocardial wall motion abnormalities that appear in response to extreme physiological or emotional stress. The patients have normal coronary arteries and usually present as new-onset heart failure or acute coronary syndrome. We report on a 48-year-old woman with post-community cardiac arrest presenting as an acute myocardial infarction. An emergency physician–performed echocardiogram showed significant wall motion abnormalities, suggesting myocardial infarction. Cardiac catheterization revealed patent epicoronary circulation, and ventriculography demonstrated a rare and only recently described variant of TCM:“reverse” TCM. The patient subsequently died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage.