Non-invasive detection of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy vs. acute anterior myocardial infarction by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography.

Aims: Typical tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) mimics acute anterior myocardial infarction (AMI) and the differential diagnosis is challenging before coronary angiography (CA) is performed; it demonstrates reduced or absent antegrade flow in the left anterior descending artery (LAD) in AMI, whereas there is no such flow limiting in TTC. At the acute phase, we tested the usefulness of the distal LAD flow visualization by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TDE) to distinguish between these two diseases. For this purpose, we prospectively enrolled 28 consecutive patients with TTC (75 ± 10 years, 93% females) who were compared with 28 consecutive patients with AMI treated successfully by primary angioplasty (66 ± 12 years, 79% females).

Factors associated with noninvasive coronary flow reserve in severe aortic stenosis.

Background: Coronary flow reserve (CFR) is progressively impaired with aortic stenosis (AS) severity. However, there is a broad range of CFR in patients with severe AS, and the factors responsible for this variability are weakly characterized. The aim of this study was to assess the correlates of noninvasive CFR in patients with severe AS (≤1 cm(2) or ≤0.