Assessment of the value of pre-catheterization in diagnosis of st-segment elevation myocardial infarction and tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy.

: The aim of our study was to assess if the analysis of precatheterisation initial 12-lead ECG could reliably differentiate between Taco-Tsubo Cardiomyopathy (TTC) and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), two conditions with a similar clinical presentation. Of the 320 patients with suspected STEMI who underwent angiography over a 2-year period we identified 23 (7.2%) patients without significant coronary artery disease. 6 (26.1%) of whom met the diagnostic criteria for Tako-Tsubo Cardiomyopathy (6 females, median age 70 (65-83) years). TTC patients were compared with the remaining 297 patients with angiographic evidence of CAD. There was no significant difference in regard with heart rate, PR interval, QRS duration, and corrected QT interval, but QT dispersion was less in TTC patients compared to STEMI group (34.1+/-9.7 vs. 43.9+/-16.2 p=0.046). Distribution of ST-segment elevation was similar in both groups, but the sum of the level of ST-segment elevation was significantly smaller (0,6+/-0.14 [0,4-0,8] mV vs. 0.95+/-0.17 [0,8-1,4] mV; p =0.002 ) and concurrent ST-segment depression was rare finding in TTC patients (16.6% vs. 65.7 % p=0.022). Careful analysis of initial ECG in combination with complex analysis of initial cardiac markers and presence of preceding stressful event could be informative tool in differentiating of TTC from STEMI.