Clinical & Experimental Cardiology
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9880
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2155-9880
+44 1300 500008
Walid Eltahlawy
Cleveland Clinic, UAE
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Clin Exp Cardiolog
Stress cardiomyopathy, also referred to as broken heart syndrome, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and apical ballooning syndrome, is a condition in which intense emotional or physical stress can cause rapid and severe heart muscle weakness (cardiomyopathy). This potentially life-threatening condition can occur following a variety of emotional stressors such as grief (e.g. death of a loved one), fear, extreme anger and surprise. It can also occur following numerous physical stressors to the body such as stroke, seizure, difficulty breathing (such as a flare of asthma or emphysema) or significant bleeding. Similar to a heart attack, patients with stress cardiomyopathy can present with low blood pressure, congestive heart failure and even shock. But unlike a heart attack, which kills heart cells, it is believed that stress cardiomyopathy uses adrenaline and other hormones to temporarily stun heart cells. Fortunately, this stunning gets better very quickly, often within just a few days to a few weeks. So even though a person with stress cardiomyopathy can have severe heart muscle weakness at the time of admission to the hospital, the heart completely recovers within a couple of weeks in most cases and there is no permanent damage.
Walid Mohamed Sabry Mohamed Khalil Eltahlawy is a Cardiologist in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi. He has also served as Cardiology Specialist for more than 5 years in Cardiology Department, Dubai Hospital in Dubai Health Authority, Dubai. He has ESCVI accreditation in Trans Thoracic Echo (TTE) in 2012 and re-accreditation 2018. In addition he has ESCVI accreditation in trans-esophageal echo 2018 and also has Acute Cardiac Care Accreditation (ACCA), 2018. He is an Echo Course Director at Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE and Egyptian General Medical Syndicate, Cairo, Egypt.
E-mail: eltahlw@clevelandclinicabudhabi.ae