Analysis of heart rate variability in a patient with takotsubo cardiomyopathy syndrome on the actual onset day: A case report

Abstract

A healthy 73-year-old woman unpredictably developed Takotsubo cardiomyopathy syndrome (TTS) during Holter-electrocardiogram (ECG) recording. Thus, the complete chronological ECG data on the actual onset day of TTS were obtained. Many heart rate variability (HRV) parameters, including the low-frequency components (LF) and the high-frequency components (HF), on the actual onset day and in the healing phase were calculated. The interesting facts on the actual onset day were that the suppression of both LF and HF appeared earlier than the changes of the ECG waveform; and the LF/HF ratio remained within the normal range, although both LF and HF were markedly suppressed. The abnormality on the actual onset day was clear compared with the healing phase. It is noteworthy to obtain the chronological ECG data on the actual onset day of TTS in a healthy patient. The present data are unique in terms of being analyzed on the actual onset day. Although the HRV parameters, including LF and HF, were obviously abnormal, there is some skepticism about using HRV parameters as indices of cardiac autonomic activity. In the present case, it was concluded that the abnormality of cardiac autonomic activity contributed to the onset of TTS. These data are unlikely to ever be replicated, and we hope that this report helps elucidate the TTS mechanism.