title: Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation in patients with Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is a heart syndrome associated with transient myocardial contractile dysfunction. The pathogenesis of TTC remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in patients with TTC.
  
  
  METHODS
  The results of FMD tests of 4 women with TTC were compared with the results from 18 women with ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) and from 26 healthy female volunteers. FMD tests in all patients were performed within 24 hours of admission and again at 1-3 weeks as a follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The FMD levels were significantly lower at the acute phase in patients with TTC than in patients with STEMI and in healthy volunteers (P <.01). After 1-3 weeks, the FMD test results of patients with TTC had greatly increased, and no significant differences were found between these results and the results from patients with STEMI (P >.05). Also, there were no significant differences in the FMD test results between the group of patients with TTC and the group of healthy volunteers (P >.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a pronounced and reversible endothelial dysfunction in patients with TTC, which can impair myocardial perfusion.
authors: Department of Cardiology, Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, Russia. vasilievahelena@gmail.com
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Vasilieva
authors: Inna
authors: I
authors: Vorobyeva
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Lebedeva
authors: Irina
authors: I
authors: Urazovskaya
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Kalinskaya
authors: Dmitriy
authors: D
authors: Skrypnik
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Shpektor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic / Q000503:physiopathology; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000503:physiopathology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D054549:Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy / Q000503:physiopathology*