Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (TC), or stress-induced cardiomyopathy, is an acquired cardiomyopathy which is famously attributed to tragic or stressful life events. Triggers for TC are notable to be physical or emotional, with surgery and death of a loved one as examples. More recently and considerably less common, TC has been recognized following joyous events, which has been referred to as the Happy Heart Syndrome (HHS). Here we describe a case of HHS in a 62-year-old female who presented to an emergency department with chest pain and shortness of breath precipitated by receiving good news about the recovery of her critically ill husband. Furthermore, we discuss the diagnostic challenges in identifying the trigger and categorization of this condition.
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Buntyn et al. (2024) studied this question.
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