Reversible Stress Cardiomyopathy Presenting as Acute Coronary Syndrome with Elevated Troponin in the Absence of Regional Wall Motion Abnormalities: A Forme Fruste of Stress Cardiomyopathy?

We present a case of reversible stress cardiomyopathy in a surgical patient, described here as a forme fruste due to its atypical features. It is important to recognize such unusual presentation of stress cardiomyopathy that mimics acute coronary syndrome. Stress cardiomyopathy commonly presents as acute coronary syndrome and is characterized by typical or atypical variants of regional wall motion abnormalities. We report a 60-year-old Caucasian male with reversible stress cardiomyopathy following a sternal fracture fixation. Although the patient had several typical features of stress cardiomyopathy including physical stress, ST-segment elevation, elevated cardiac biomarkers and normal epicardial coronaries, there were few features that were atypical, including unusual age, gender, absence of regional wall motion abnormalities, high lateral ST elevation, and high troponin-ejection fraction product. In conclusion, this could represent a forme fruste of stress cardiomyopathy.