Incidence and Clinical Impact of Right Ventricular Involvement (Biventricular Ballooning) in Takotsubo Syndrome: Results From the GEIST Registry

Abstract

The short- and long-term prognosis of Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) presenting with right ventricular (RV) involvement remains poorly understood. What is the incidence and clinical outcome of RV involvement in TTS? This study analyzed 839 consecutive patients with TTS (758 female subjects and 81 male subjects) in a multicenter registry. RV involvement was defined as wall motion abnormality of the RV free wall, with or without apical involvement. The median long-term follow-up was 2.1 years (interquartile range, 0.3-4.5 years). The primary outcome was in-hospital and out-of-hospital all-cause mortality. The secondary end point was a composite of in-hospital death, thromboembolic events, cardiogenic shock, pulmonary edema, and malignant arrhythmias. The incidence of RV involvement in TTS was 11%(n= 93). More often patients with RV involvement were male compared with patients without RV involvement (P= .02). There was a slight difference in the left ventricular ejection fraction measured in patients with RV involvement vsthose patients with isolated left ventricular TTS (38 ± 10%vs40 ± 10%; P= .03). No major differences in terms of comorbidities were observed between groups except regarding a history of cancer, which was significantly more prevalent in patients with TTS presenting with RV involvement (P= .03). Physical stressors were more prevalent in the RV group (P< .01), whereas emotional stressors were less prevalent (P< .01). Patients with RV involvement had a higher incidence of in-hospital cardiogenic shock (P= .02). The primary outcome (in- and out-of-hospital all-cause mortality) was observed in 12.8%of patients without RV involvement compared with 29%of patients with RV involvement. Although the in-hospital mortality rate was similar in both groups, a higher out-of-hospital all-cause mortality rate (log-rank test, P= .008) was observed in the RV involvement group. The Cox multivariable regression analysis showed that physical triggers were independent predictors of RV involvement. RV involvement defines a high-risk cohort of patients with TTS. ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT04361994; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov.