Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy after General Anesthesia

To the Editor:—I enjoyed reading the case report about Takotsubo cardiomyopathy after general anesthesia by Gavish et al. in the September 2006 issue of ANESTHESIOLOGY. It is noteworthy that another case report of postoperative Takotsubo-like left ventricular dysfunction that occurred in France was published in the same month in the September 2006 issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia and was accompanied by an editorial that also emphasized the importance to anesthesiologists of this recently recognized form of transient reversible left ventricular dysfunction. It should be noted that there has been at least one previous case of postoperative transient apical ballooning syndrome in a white female reported by Ramakrishna et al. It is interesting to ponder why these case reports are appearing now. I suspect it relates to the old adage that “we only see what we look for.” Eugene A. Hessel II, M.D., University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky. [email protected]