Broken hearts: differentiating stress-induced cardiomyopathy from acute myocardial infarction in the patient presenting with acute coronary syndrome.

The link between an emotional or physical stresses and an acute cardiac event was first discovered in Japan. Stress-induced cardiomyopathy is defined as transient left ventricular dysfunction associated with apical and mid ventricular contractile abnormalities and sparing of basal segments that mimics acute myocardial infarction. This article presents an overview of this disorder.