Transient mid-ventricular ballooning syndrome complicated by syncope: A variant of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy

Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy, also called transient left ventricular apical ballooning, is a clinical entity first described in Japan. This syndrome is triggered by emotional or physical stress and mimics an acute coronary syndrome, although the coronary arteries are essentially normal. Recently, several reports have described variant forms of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy, such as inverted tako-tsubo and mid-ventricular ballooning cardiomyopathy. We describe a case herein of an 87-year-old woman who presented a variant form of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy complicated by syncope. Our findings may contribute to an elucidation of the mechanism underlying tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.