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Reversible left ventricular dysfunction "takotsubo" cardiomyopathy associated with pneumothorax
Y J Akashi1, M Sakakibara, F Miyake
1Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, St Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan. johnny@marianna-u.ac.jp
Heart (British Cardiac Society)
|January 18, 2002
Abstract:
An 83 year old woman presented to the emergency department with chest pain and dyspnoea. Chest radiography showed pneumothorax of the left lung. Arteries were normal on coronary angiography. Left ventriculography showed asynergy of apical akinesis and basal hyperkinesis. Within 18 days, the asynergy improved without any specific treatment. In the present case the left ventricular dysfunction may have been induced by altered catecholamine dynamics as a result of pneumothorax.