Pathophysiology of Stress cardiomyopathy:
The mechanisms of disease remain unclear, and the cause has not been established.
An excessive release of catecholamines (stress, exogenous cathecholamines administered during diagnostic tests, and beta-receptor agonists) seems to have a pivotal role in the development of stress cardiomyopathy.
Stress cardiomyopathy:
Stress cardiomyopathy, also referred as Takotsubo (“octopus pot” in Japanese) cardiomyopathy, transient apical ballooning, or broken heart syndrome, is a disorder associated with transient left ventricular dysfunction.
It occurs usually in old women (50% of them with neurologic or psychiatric conditions) after emotional or physical stress, but it also happens in men <50 years old and in the absence of stress.
LV ballooning may be apical (81%), midventricular (15%), basal (2%), or focal (1.5%).