Transient apical ballooning of the left ventricle.

The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025729X 15 November 2004 181 10 572-572 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2004 www.mja.com.au Snapshot placed for the management of cardiogenic shock. A gram 3 weeks later showed normal left ventricu function. The patient had acute transient apical ballooning coronary arteries (“Takotsubo” cardiomyopathy). Firs 1990, the presentation is similar to that of acu myocardial ischaemia, with chest symptoms and n pre his A 80-year-old woman with a history of hypertension sented to the emergency department with a 3-hour tory of dyspnoea and precordial discomfort. Serum concentrations of troponin T, creatine kinase and creatine kinase MB isoenzyme were normal. An electrocardiogram (Box 1) showed changes consistent with myocardial ischaemia. When the patient developed haemodynamic instability, cardiac catheterisation was performed (Box 2). The patient’s condition improved after an intra-aortic balloon pump (a catheter-mounted balloon positioned in the descending aorta and timed to inflate during diastole) was n echocardiolar size and