Research progress of stress cardiomyopathy in patients of ICU / 中国医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Stress cardiomyopathy (SCM) is a kind of clinical syndrome characterized by transient ventricular enlargement and left ventricular regional systolic dysfunction caused by strong mental stimulation or physical stress, and accompanied by electrocardiogram (ECG) changes. Its clinical symptoms and ECG manifestations are similar to those of acute coronary syndrome in the early stage of onset, which is easy to be misdiagnosed. However, patients in intensive care unit (ICU) are often in critical and severe condition, and they often preceded different degrees by emotional or physical stress. Therefore, patients in ICU are prone to complicated with SCM. Otherwise, the symptoms of SCM patients in ICU are not typical. Early diagnosis and optimal treatment are the key to improve the prognosis of patients in ICU. The etiology, epidemiology, pathophysiological mechanism, diagnosis and management of SCM in ICU are reviewed in this paper.