Dynamic changes of the extracellular matrix after acute tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy

Methods Eleven patients (10F, mean age 56±16yrs) with a clear diagnosis of ST-elevation TTC and emotional trigger were prospectively enrolled and underwent cardiac magnetic resonance acutely (day 0-3) and after 4 months on a Philips 3T Achieva scanner. Native 3-3-5 (MOLLI) T1 mapping was applied acutely, and both native and postcontrast T1 mapping were performed at 4 months followup. Eleven healthy controls underwent only native T1 mapping. T1 maps were: generated using in-house software written in IDL (Exelis. Boulder CO, USA); quality controlled with chi-square maps; and imported into Segment (Medviso, Lund University, Sweden), where T1 values were generated for 16 segments. Extracellular volumes (ECV) were calculated for the follow-up scan using: ECV=(1-hermatocrit)(ΔR1myocardium/ ΔR1blood) Segments were grouped according to their wall motion (WM) on the acute scan (normal/abnormal).