An Extensive Review on Imaging Diagnosis Methods in Takotsubo Syndrome

Abstract

Takotsubo Syndrome (TS) is an acute, reversible cardiac dysfunction, with complex, not entirely understood pathophysiology and heterogeneous clinical picture. Imaging methods each have a crucial role in the diagnosis, in-hospital management, short term and long term follow up. Coronary angiography needs to be performed, especially in the setting of a suspected acute coronary syndrome, in order to rule out coronary artery disease. Echocardiography plays a central role both in the acute and the chronic phase. It is the first imaging investigation performed in patients with TS, valuable to diagnose systolic dysfunction, the wall motion pattern and early complications. Cardiac magnetic resonance tissue characterization provides an essential role in the differential diagnosis of TS with other non-ischemic causes of systolic dysfunction. This review focuses on the imaging methods and the important part they play in the complex management of the disease.

Keywords

• acute coronary syndrome
• echocardiography
• coronary angiography
• cardiac magnetic resonance