Transient left ventricular apical ballooning: a novel heart syndrome

A novel cardiac syndrome of left ventricular apical ballooning (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy-ampulla cardiomyopathy) involves reversible left ventricular apical ballooning (during systole) of acute onset with chest pain, electrocardiographic changes, and minimal elevation of cardiac enzymes resembling acute myocardial infarction, but without evidence of myocardial ischemia or injury. Patients have no angiographic evidence of coronary artery stenosis and there is almost always a complete recovery of left ventricular function in days to weeks. The precise etiologic basic of this syndrome is not clear but most likely it is a non-ischemic, metabolic syndrome caused by stress-induced activation of the cardiac adrenoceptors in absence of ischemia and reperfusion. Reported here is a case of stress-induced transient left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome in a young woman.