Takotsubo Syndrome: A Recurrent Disease?

Several terms (such as happy heart syndrome, broken heart syndrome, and takotsubo cardiomyopathy) have been used to refer to the recently defined Takotsubo Syndrome (TTS). The first case of TTS was described in Japan (Hiroshima City Hospital) in 1983 and a report of five cases was published in a Japanese medical textbook in 1990.

However, in contrast to other cardiomyopathies that are usually not transient in nature, TTS is characterized by a temporary wall motion abnormality of the LV in the absence of pheochromocytoma, myocarditis and shares common features with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) similar symptoms at presentation, ECG abnormalities, elevated cardiac biomarkers, as well as a comparable in-hospital mortality with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-STEMI, specifically in terms of a microvascular ACS form. The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has also established the International Takotsubo Diagnostic Criteria (InterTAK Diagnostic Criteria), which implement a diagnostic algorithm and assign a score to TTS.

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