title: From trivial headache to life-threatening disease.
abstract: Sometimes, a clinical course that initially appears to be 'classic' turns out to be a manifestation of a rare disease. We report on a 62-year-old woman who presented initially with episodic headache, followed by cardiogenic shock. What was first thought to be an ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction, later to be a takostubo cardiomyopathy, finally appeared to be a catecholamine-induced cardiomyopathy due to a pheochromocytoma. This case illustrates that in a patient with presumed takotsubo cardiomyopathy and episodic headache, sweating, hypertension or tachycardia, pheochromocytoma needs to be excluded.
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verrijcken
authors.forename: Raf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sciot
authors.forename: Christophe L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Dubois
mesh_terms: D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010673:Pheochromocytoma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D054549:Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology