Clinical characteristics of takotsubo syndrome: a series of cases.

INTRODUCTION: takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is a recently recognized entity that resembles an acute coronary syndrome. Its epidemiology has been studied in various populations around the world. The most frequent trigger is an emotional stressful event.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics of a series of cases with TTS.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A descriptive and retrospective study was carried out. The variables of age, gender, clinical characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors, triggering factors, biomarkers, electrocardiographic, echocardiographic, and angiographic findings in the clinical records of a group of cases of patients with TTS were evaluated.

RESULTS: 19 cases of TTS were included. There were 16 women and 3 men, the average age was 62 ± 14 years; the main cardiovascular risk factor was sedentary lifestyle in 13 cases. The emotional trigger was present in most cases. The most frequent symptom was chest pain, eight cases presented data of shoCKP and heart failure. The most common variant by echocardiography was apical ballooning in 79%, as well as by ventriculography. The most common complication was cardiogenic shoCKP.

CONCLUSIONS: The clinical characteristics of our population are like those previously described in the literature. TTS is a transient and reversible cardiomyopathy with a good prognosis.