Diagnosis & treatment

Diagnosis and treatment

If you have heart attack symptoms, you should assume you’re having a heart attack and respond immediately by calling 911. Don’t attempt to drive yourself to the hospital or have someone else drive you.

In the ambulance and at the hospital, your medical care team will give you a combination of the following tests to see if your symptoms are heart-related:

An electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG) measures the electrical activity of the heart and the heart’s rhythm
Blood tests to check for cardiac enzymes that indicate damage to the heart muscle
An echocardiogram (echo) takes an ultrasound image of the heart
An angiogram to view an X-ray movie of the heart and its blood vessels to check for blockages restricting blood flow

Heart Attack vs. Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy

	Heart Attack	Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy
Symptoms	Chest pressure and tightness, shortness of breath, throat tightness, and pain in the arm or back	Chest pressure and tightness, shortness of breath, throat tightness, and pain in the arm or back
Onset	At rest or after unusual exertion (i.e., shoveling heavy snow)	After emotional distress, such as a loss of a loved one, a car accident, or financial distress
What cardiac catheterization shows	A blocked heart artery due to a clot	Normal heart arteries
Treatment	Immediate angioplasty to open the heart artery	Medical treatment to aid the recovery of the heart
What to do when symptoms start	Call 911 immediately to have an ambulance bring you to the Emergency Department	Call 911 immediately to have an ambulance bring you to the Emergency Department

If your heart’s left ventricle has the syndrome’s characteristic shape and no blockages are found in the blood vessels, you will be diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Treatment primarily consists of an initial recovery period in the hospital and heart medications to reduce the stress on the heart. Most patients recover within a few days to a couple of months.