Epidemiology and pathophysiology of takotsubo syndrome

TS is a novel syndrome with a substantial mortality rate.

It is probably the most common form of acute HF due to cardiomyopathy in Sweden, and it often occurs in patients with cancer.

Patients with TS maintain normal or near-normal cardiac output despite extensive LV akinesia that would not be survivable during acute MI. TS, therefore, challenges our fundamental understanding of cardiovascular physiology.

Insights into the epidemiology and adequate treatment of TS may have an immediate beneficial impact on the current clinical practice, patient safety, and prognosis.

Increased understanding of TS at the basic science level is important for the development of measures that may decrease and eventually prevent TS in the future. Our study can lead to new insights about sex-related determinants of cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology.

It will also provide valuable knowledge about how hemodynamic, molecular, and neurohormonal factors differ between TS and acute HF due to MI or cardiomyopathy.

We will evaluate how treatment with adenosine, dipyridamole and apixaban affects hemodynamic, molecular and neurohormonal profiles in TS.

Detailed mechanistic insights from this trial will provide valuable hypotheses about targets for pharmacological intervention in acute HF in general.

A better understanding of the mechanism underlying the relationship between TS and cancer will improve patient safety and provide valuable insights into TS pathophysiology.