Is Tako-tsubo syndrome in the postpartum period a clinical entity different from peripartum cardiomyopathy?

Takotsubo Syndrome: Differences between Peripartum Period and General Population

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) was first described in postmenopausal women with transient regional wall motion abnormalities. The trigger is usually an emotional or physical stress. The catecholamine hypothesis seems to be the most prevailing. The main difference between TTS and acute coronary syndromes is that there is no obstructive coronary disease to explain the regional abnormalities. In this form, the left ventricle resembles the fishing jar which is used to trap octopus in Japan. However, to date more atypical forms are recognized. Also, the syndrome is not limited to older women. Nowadays, TTS is presented even in pregnancy and postpartum females. Our experience revealed cases of patients during these periods and some of them suffered from reverse Takotsubo. Additionally, the initial diagnosis in some patients was other than TTS. Due to these findings, we suggest that this type of TTS is not very rare but underestimated. For this reason, further studies are needed to support and explain this condition.

Temporal Trends in Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes for Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: The Nationwide Multicenter Registry Over 20 Years

BACKGROUND

Although peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a fatal disease affecting young patients and fetuses, little is known about its recent prognosis and risk factors. This study investigated temporal trends in clinical characteristics and outcomes for PPCM in a nationwide multicenter registry.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The study population comprised 340 patients (mean age, 33 years) who were diagnosed with PPCM between January 2000 and September 2022 in 26 tertiary hospitals in South Korea. PPCM was defined as heart failure with left ventricular ejection fraction ≤45% and no previously known cardiac disease. The main study outcomes included time to the first occurrence of all-cause death, heart transplantation, and cardiovascular hospitalization. The diagnosis of PPCM cases increased notably during the study period (P<0.001). However, clinical outcomes showed no significant improvement (all-cause death for 10 years: 0.9% [2000-2010] versus 2.3% [2011-2022], P=0.450; all-cause death and heart transplantation for 10 years: 3.6% [2000-2010] versus 3.0% [2011-2022] P=0.520; all-cause death, heart transplantation, and cardiovascular hospitalization for 10 years: 11.7% [2000-2010] versus 19.8% [2011-2022], P=0.240). High body mass index (hazard ratio [HR], 1.106 [95% CI, 1.024-1.196]; P=0.011), the presence of gestational diabetes (HR, 5.346 [95% CI, 1.778-16.07]; P=0.002), and increased baseline left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (HR, 1.078 [95% CI, 1.002-1.159]; P=0.044) were significant risk factors for poor prognosis.

CONCLUSIONS

While the incidence of PPCM has increased over the past 20 years, the prognosis has not improved significantly. Timely management and close follow-up are necessary for high-risk patients with PPCM with high body mass index, gestational diabetes, or large left ventricular end-diastolic dimension.

Successful extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment of catecholamine-induced cardiomyopathy-associated pheochromocytoma: a case report

The main mechanism of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is catecholamine-induced acute myocardial stunning. Pheochromocytoma, a catecholamine-secreting tumor, can cause several cardiovascular complications, including hypertensive crisis, myocardial infarction, toxic myocarditis, and TCM. A 29-year-old woman presented to our hospital with general weakness, vomiting, dyspnea, and chest pain. The patient was nullipara, 28 weeks' gestation, and had a cachexic morphology. Her cardiac enzyme levels were elevated and bedside echocardiography showed apical akinesia, suggesting TCM. The next day, she could not feel the fetal movement, and an emergency cesarean section was performed. After delivery, the patient experienced cardiac arrest and was transferred to the intensive care unit for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Spontaneous circulation returned after 28 minutes of CPR, but cardiogenic shock continued, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was initiated. On the third day of ECMO maintenance, left ventricular ejection fraction improved and blood pressure stabilized. On the eighth day after ECMO insertion, it was removed. However, complications of the left leg vessels occurred, and several surgeries and interventions were performed. A left adrenal gland mass was found on computed tomography and was removed while repairing the leg vessels. Pheochromocytoma was diagnosed and left adrenalectomy was performed.

Differences in clinical presentation and outcomes in pregnancy-associated Takotsubo Syndrome- A scoping review of the literature: Outcomes in pregnancy-associated Takotsubo

BACKGROUND

Takotsubo syndrome (TS) during pregnancy and postpartum is rare but may lead to significant maternal and fetal morbidity. We compared clinical characteristics and prognosis according to [a] timing of presentation (pregnancy vs post-partum) and [b] modes of delivery (cesarean section vs vaginal delivery).

METHODS

Systematic review of articles published in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Medline databases from inception to July 30, 2023. Patient demographics, obstetric, electrocardiographic, laboratory, echocardiographic characteristics, and prognosis were summarized descriptively.

RESULTS

An initial database search identified 2162 articles, of which 81 studies were included in this review. TS during pregnancy can have emotional, obstetric, and metabolic triggers and has a higher proportion of adverse fetal outcomes when compared with women who developed TS postpartum. Women with TS after cesarean section had an earlier onset and higher proportion of anesthesia use when compared with those who developed TS after vaginal delivery. There were no differences regarding the degree of systolic dysfunction or the need for advanced therapies, including ventilator support, intra-aortic balloon pump, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation among groups.

CONCLUSIONS

TS is associated with various triggers and adverse fetal outcomes when it develops during pregnancy than in the postpartum period. TS occurs more rapidly and with a more aggressive course after cesarean section than after vaginal delivery.

Peripartum Cardiogenic Shock and Mechanical Circulatory Support

Despite remarkable improvements in the past two decades, the annual cardiovascular mortality rate has remained higher for women than for men. Pregnant women represent an underinvestigated population in clinical research, and the mechanisms of long-term cardiovascular complications in women with obstetric complications remain to be elucidated. Regarding advanced heart failure during pregnancy, interventional approaches are effective but still underutilised. Percutaneous mechanical circulatory support is a valuable option for peripartum cardiogenic shock, although its use during pregnancy is still limited. Survival rates have improved in recent years, but further emphasis on the importance of early recognition and initiation of heart failure treatment in this patient group is warranted. The aims of this review are to summarise the current literature on the implementation of mechanical circulatory support in cardiogenic shock during pregnancy and delivery and to understand the role of percutaneous ventricular assist devices in the management of such conditions.

Failing in reverse: a case report of reverse Takotsubo syndrome complicating peripartum

Background

Pregnancy and the peripartum are states of stress for the cardiovascular system. These conditions can trigger different cardiomyopathies. Among these, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) has been increasingly recognized as a cause of transient left ventricular dysfunction associated with pregnancy.

Case summary

We present the case of a 31-year-old multiparous woman with an unusual variant of TC after caesarean delivery.

Discussion

Peripartum cardiomyopathy and TC are particularly interesting differential diagnoses for new systolic dysfunction in pregnancy. Some features, such as the time of presentation, regional or diffuse wall motion abnormalities, evolution, and biomarkers, can guide the clinician to the right diagnosis.

Advanced Cardiac Imaging and Women's Chest Pain: A Question of Gender

Awareness of gender differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) has increased: both the different impact of traditional cardiovascular risk factors on women and the existence of sex-specific risk factors have been demonstrated. Therefore, it is essential to recognize typical aspects of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in women, who usually show a lower prevalence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) as a cause of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). It is also important to know how to recognize pathologies that can cause acute chest pain with a higher incidence in women, such as spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA). Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) gained a pivotal role in the context of cardiac emergencies. Thus, the aim of our review is to investigate the most frequent scenarios in women with acute chest pain and how advanced cardiac imaging can help in the management and diagnosis of ACS.

Reverse Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy During Immediate Post-partum: A Case Report

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or stress-induced cardiomyopathy is a particular entity with a transient left ventricular dysfunction without significant coronary artery obstruction, preceded by a stressful circumstance. Clinical presentation may mimic myocardial infarction, acute heart failure among the most common conditions. If suspected, the integration of clinical aspects, imaging results, and laboratory tests allows its diagnosis and proper management. Once described as a post-menopausal women's disease, is now recognized as a more frequent condition of young women, especially after stressful conditions such as post-surgical status and peripartum period, rendering as a disease with a certain predisposition to female patients, with a not always benign evolution. This case remarks an atypical presentation experiencing a first nigh fatal evolution but a later satisfactory recuperation.

Inverted Takotsubo Syndrome With HELLP Syndrome: A Case Report

Background

Takotsubo syndrome is an acute cardiac condition involving sudden, transient apical ballooning of the left ventricle of the heart that may be triggered by emotional stress and some non-cardiac conditions. Its diagnosis is based on clinical presentation, electrocardiogram, cardiac imaging and biomarkers.

Case Summary

Here, we present a novel and original case report of a patient presenting very soon in the post-partum period with an unusual form of Takotsubo syndrome without clinical symptoms of cardiac disease and accompanied by HELLP syndrome. The overall dynamics of the changes in troponin I, troponin T and NT-proBNP levels after delivery were generally similar, but the amount of troponin I was much greater than that of troponin T and troponin I was already elevated before delivery. NT-proBNP levels peaked around the same time as the troponins and the peak concentration was within the same range as that of troponin I.

Discussion

Our findings indicate that assaying circulating cardiac biomarkers, especially troponin I and NT-proBNP, may be a useful complement to non-invasive cardiac imaging including transthoracic echocardiography and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging, in the diagnosis of Takotsubo syndrome. They illustrate the importance of cardiac biomarkers in assisting diagnosis of this disease.

Intersection of Heart Failure and Pregnancy: Beyond Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in pregnant women in the United States. Although peripartum cardiomyopathy is the most common diagnosis for pregnant women with HF, women with preexisting cardiomyopathies and systolic dysfunction are also at risk as the hemodynamic demands of pregnancy can lead to decompensation, arrhythmia, and rarely death. The differential diagnosis of HF in pregnancy is broad and includes Takotsubo or stress cardiomyopathy, exacerbation of a preexisting cardiomyopathy, such as familial cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, or left ventricular noncompaction. This review will explore the implications of pregnancy in women with preexisting cardiomyopathies and de novo HF, risk assessment and preconception planning, decisions about contraception, the safety of HF medications and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators during pregnancy, pregnancy in women with left ventricular assist devices and following heart transplantation.

Clinical characteristics and long-term outcomes of peripartum takotsubo cardiomyopathy and peripartum cardiomyopathy

Aims

Although some peripartum‐associated cardiomyopathy patients present with features that are clinically and echocardiographically similar to those of takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM), little is known about the diagnosis and clinical course of peripartum TCM.

Methods and results

In a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea, we searched the hospital database to find cardiomyopathy cases that were associated with pregnancy from January 1995 to May 2019. Applying the published diagnostic criteria, we sought peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) and peripartum TCM patients for comparison. Of 31 pregnancy‐associated cardiomyopathy patients, 10 cases of peripartum TCM and 21 cases of PPCM were found. Maternal near‐miss death was significantly more common in the peripartum TCM group than in the PPCM group (100.0% vs. 57.1%, P = 0.030). Complete recovery was observed with all peripartum TCM cases, while 23.8% of the PPCM cases had residual left ventricular dysfunction. One death and one heart transplantation occurred in the PPCM group, while neither occurred in the peripartum TCM group. There was no difference between the two groups in terms of the rate of major adverse clinical events at 3 years of follow‐up [PPCM group: 26.3% (5/19) vs. TCM group: 33.3% (3/9), P = 0.750].

Conclusions

One‐third of pregnancy‐associated cardiomyopathy patients had peripartum TCM. With contemporary supportive care, both PPCM and peripartum TCM patients had a low mortality rate and excellent long‐term outcomes.

Clinical features differentiating Takotsubo cardiomyopathy in the peripartum period from peripartum cardiomyopathy

There are some similarities in clinical features between Takotsubo cardiomyopathy during the peripartum period (PTCM) and peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM). Both conditions present as acute heart failure and decreased left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction in the peripartum period in previously heart-healthy women. The present study aimed to evaluate the differences in clinical features and outcomes between PTCM and PPCM. Between January 2004 and December 2016, 37 consecutive patients who demonstrated LV dysfunction during the peripartum period without previous heart disease were recruited retrospectively. The clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic data of these patients were comprehensively reviewed. Twenty-one (57%) and 16 (43%) patients were classified into PPCM and PTCM groups, respectively, based on echocardiographic findings. The initial LV ejection fraction did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. However, all patients with PTCM showed complete recovery of LV ejection fraction at the 1-month follow-up. However, among 20 patients with PPCM who underwent 1-month echocardiography, only 6 (30%) showed complete recovery of LV ejection fraction at the 1-month follow-up. At the 12-month follow-up, only 10 patients showed complete recovery of LV ejection fraction. The incidence of PTCM was much higher than expected. Although LV dysfunction was similar at the initial diagnosis, the prognosis of LV recovery was more favorable in PTCM than in PPCM. Therefore, physicians should differentiate these two diseases entities, although they have several similarities in acute LV dysfunction.

The role of multimodality imaging in takotsubo cardiomyopathy

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) is a syndrome of transient left ventricular (LV) dysfunction mimicking acute coronary syndrome. Although the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of TC are unknown, several imaging techniques contribute to its diagnosis. Here we review the current knowledge about TC, in particular, the pathophysiology and the role of imaging including nuclear cardiovascular medicine.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy: disease or syndrome?

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare form of pregnancy-associated heart failure and is considered to be a diagnosis of exclusion. There are many hypotheses on the aetiology of PPCM; however, the exact pathophysiological mechanism remains unknown. It shows many resemblances to other conditions, such as familial dilated cardiomyopathy or myocarditis, and therefore it can be hard to make a definite diagnosis. We describe four cases of peripartum-onset heart failure in women who were suspected of having PPCM. We discuss the differential diagnosis, pathophysiological mechanisms and various diagnostic modalities.

Takotsubo syndrome-associated ventricular standstill in a peripartum patient: case report and review of the literature

Takotsubo syndrome is classically characterized by apical ballooning and left ventricle akinesis associated with an underlying catecholamine surge. In patients with suspected Takotsubo syndrome, clinicians should be vigilant for acute coronary syndrome and arrhythmias. Ventricular standstill with underlying Takotsubo syndrome should be managed with a dual‐chambered pacemaker to improve patient outcome.

Subsequent Safe Pregnancy with Cesarean Delivery in a Patient with a History of Peripartum Takotsubo Syndrome Complicated by Cardiogenic Shock

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is an acute and reversible heart failure syndrome, usually occurring in females but rarely in the peripartum period. In women with a history of peripartum TTS, it is unclear how to manage subsequent pregnancies. A 39-year-old female with a history of peripartum TTS complicated by cardiogenic shock became pregnant again. She underwent close cardiological follow-up for monitoring left ventricular systolic function and hemodynamic conditions. Epidural anesthesia was preferred to avoid catecholamine surge during cesarean delivery. After a few days of hospitalization, the patient and the newborn were discharged in good health. In our patient with a history of complicated peripartum TTS, close cardiological follow-up, appropriate management therapy, and anesthesia modality allow us to guide safely a new pregnancy.

Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a potentially life-threatening pregnancy-associated disease that typically arises in the peripartum period and is marked by left ventricular dysfunction and heart failure. The disease is relatively uncommon, but its incidence is rising. Women often recover cardiac function, but long-lasting morbidity and mortality are not infrequent. Management of peripartum cardiomyopathy is largely limited to the same neurohormonal antagonists used in other forms of cardiomyopathy, and no proven disease-specific therapies exist yet. Research in the past decade has suggested that peripartum cardiomyopathy is caused by vascular dysfunction, triggered by late-gestational maternal hormones. Most recently, information has also indicated that many cases of peripartum cardiomyopathy have genetic underpinnings. We review here the known epidemiology, clinical presentation, and management of peripartum cardiomyopathy, as well as the current knowledge of the pathophysiology of the disease.

Inverted stress- induced cardiomyopathy as a unusual variant of acute heart failure after cesarean delivery- a case report

Background

Stress- induced cardiomyopathy is acute, reversible left ventricle mainly apical dysfunction in patients with normal coronary angiography. Rarely it regards basal segments, therefore defined as “inverted stress- induced cardiomyopathy”. While classic form mostly affects postmenopausal women, inverted variant occurs essentially in younger females, always triggered by stress. It can also develop after medical procedures and surgery. Herein we report such unique case of 36- year old woman after cesarean delivery.

Case presentation

A 36- year- old white woman at 40 week of gestation was admitted to hospital for elective repeated cesarean delivery. During caesarean delivery under spinal anaesthesia a previously healthy woman became hypotensive, requiring ephedrine to maintain her blood pressure. Three hours after delivery the patient presented acute heart failure and pulmonary oedema. Due to low blood pressure she demanded the administration of inotropic agents. Owing to respiratory failure and gradual deterioration of consciousness, mechanical ventilation was applied. Results of additional tests finally excluded pulmonary thromboembolism and acute coronary syndrome. The transthoracic echocardiography revealed severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction, ejection fraction 30 % with hypokinesis of the mid and basal segments of posterior, anterior and lateral wall with preserved contractility of the apical segments. The diagnosis of inverted stress- induced cardiomyopathy was set upon the overall clinical data. Both echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging performed on the fifth day showed complete recovery of myocardial function. The patient was discharged after 15 days in good overall condition. At 12- month follow- up she remained asymptomatic with no echocardiographic abnormalities.

Conclusions

Inverted stress- induced cardiomyopathy may occur in postpartum period, especially in combination with spinal anesthesia and adrenergic stimulants administration. The clinical awareness and multimodality imaging of possible diagnosis and further management of this unexpected variant of acute heart failure after caesarean delivery is required.

Reverse Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy following Exogenous Epinephrine Administration in the Early Postpartum Period

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is typically triggered by stress and can often mimic acute myocardial infarction. It is typically characterized by ballooning of the apex of the left ventricle following emotional or physical stress. Reverse TCM is a rare variant in which the cardiac apex is hyperkinetic and ballooning occurs at the base of the heart. We present a case of reverse TCM in the immediate postpartum period following an injection of local epinephrine, followed by spontaneous resolution within 24 hours.