In the Eye of the Storm: Echocardiographic Particle Image Velocimetry Analysis in a Patient with Takotsubo Syndrome

Sara Cimino; Luca Arcari; Domenico Filomena; Luciano Agati

doi:10.1111/echo.14776

In the Eye of the Storm: Echocardiographic Particle Image Velocimetry Analysis in a Patient with Takotsubo Syndrome

Echocardiography. 2020 Aug;37(8):1312-1314. doi: 10.1111/echo.14776. Epub 2020 Jul 17.

Authors

Sara Cimino¹, Luca Arcari^{2

3}, Domenico Filomena¹, Luciano Agati¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical, Internal, Internal, Aenesthesiological and Cardiovascular Sciences, Sapienza, University of Rome, Italy.
² Cardiology Unit, Clinical and Molecular Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
³ Institute of Cardiology, Madre Giuseppina Vannini Hospital, Rome, Italy.

PMID: 32677722
DOI: 10.1111/echo.14776

Abstract

Echo particle imaging velocimetry (Echo PIV) is a contrast-echo-based technique, used to evaluate the instantaneous vortical blood motion into the left ventricle (LV). Here, we report, for the first time, echo-PIV findings in a patient with Takotsubo syndrome (TTS). Vortex behavior suggested that TTS might present with peculiar PIV characteristics, including relatively preserved intra-ventricular pressure gradient and energy dissipation. Further studies are needed to elucidate whether the preservation of a more physiological vortex behavior could be related to the structural and functional recovery observed in TTS.

Keywords: Takotsubo syndrome; echocardiography; particle image velocimetry.

MeSH terms

Echocardiography
Heart Ventricles / diagnostic imaging
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Rheology
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy* / diagnosis
Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy* / diagnostic imaging