title: Delayed-contrast enhancement cardioresonance in transient left ventricular apical ballooning.
abstract: Transient left ventricular apical ballooning (TAB) is a condition that mimics acute coronary syndrome typically without coronary angiographic stenosis. Patients present with typical chest pain, ECG changes suggesting ischemia, and a slight elevation of myocardial injury markers such as creatine kinase and troponines. Ballooning during ventricular systole of the cardiac apex is a characteristic feature of this entity. It is transient and it usually resolves after a few days together with normalization of ECG changes. Initially, apical dyskinesis can be diagnosed by any cardiac imaging technique that allows myocardial wall motion assessment. Recent advances in cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) have made this technique to become the gold-standard method to assess myocardial infarction. CMR provides an excellent and reproducible assessment of segmental wall motion abnormalities and, more importantly, it allows an accurate depiction of myocardial necrotic area by means of delayed contrast-enhancement method. Therefore, it may be particularly useful in the assessment of TAB by demonstrating segmental dysfunction in the absence of myocardial irreversible damage. We report three cases of TAB in which contrast- enhanced CMR emerged as an excellent diagnostic tool.
authors.affiliation: Coronary Care Unit, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain. ermenvg@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Ermengol
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vallès
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pujadas
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guindo
authors.forename: Rubén
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leta
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carreras
authors.forename: Guillem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pons-Lladó
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015635:Radionuclide Ventriculography; D013577:Syndrome; D013997:Time Factors; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media