Study Identifies
CME Released: 07/25/2011; Valid for credit through 07/25/2012
Clinical Context
Stress cardiomyopathy is a transient form of acute heart failure triggered by stressful events and is associated with a distinctive left ventricular (LV) contraction pattern, called "apical ballooning." The incidence of stress cardiomyopathy is unknown, and it primarily affects postmenopausal women. Complications are rare, and the prognosis of patients with stress cardiomyopathy is favorable. Various aspects of its clinical profile have been described in small, single-center populations, but larger, multicenter data sets have been lacking so far. Overall, it remains difficult to quickly establish diagnosis on admission and is an important differential diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome.
The aim of this study by Eitel and colleagues was to comprehensively define the clinical spectrum and evolution of stress cardiomyopathy in a large population, including tissue characterization data from cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to establish a set of cardiovascular MRI criteria suitable for diagnostic decision making in patients acutely presenting with suspected stress cardiomyopathy.
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