Síndrome de Takotsubo

BACKGROUND: Takotsubo syndrome, also known as stress cardiomyopathy, is a condition triggered by emotional factors or intense physical stress; postmenopausal women are the predominant population. CLINICAL CASES: A series of cases is presented. In the first clinical case a primary takotsubo syndrome is exposed in a 60-year-old female patient with chest pain, ac-companied by exaggerated neurovegetative response related to a previous emotional event. On the second case, a 69-year-old female patient suffered a fall in her own sup-port plane, with direct contusion on the thorax, developing later a secondary takotsubo syndrome. In both cases an electrocardiogram with T-wave reversal and ST segment elevation, cardiac enzyme elevation, and a characteristic imaging study, showing no coronary artery injury, as well as a left ventricle with severe apical hypokinesia giving a characteristic image in the form of a vase of takotsubo. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of takotsubo syndrome is challenging due to the simila- rity of the clinical picture to an acute coronary syndrome. Definitive diagnosis requires a ventriculography that shows the characteristic pattern in the shape of the vessel that gives to the syndrome its name.