Happy heart syndrome mimicking acute pulmonary embolism and acute coronary syndrome

Introduction Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC), also named as the “broken heart syndrome (BHS),” “apical ballooning syndrome,” or “stress-induced cardiomyopathy,” is characterized by transient left ventricular systolic dysfunction without an evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease (1). Postmenopausal women account for approximately 90% of the cases (1). Recent studies have shown that TC can be triggered by negative as well as positive life events, owing to which it is also known as the “happy heart syndrome” (HHS) (2). However, it is frequently triggered by physically or emotionally stressful events such as the receipt of bad news; incidents of death, accidents, and natural disasters; or presence of complicated medical diseases as well as events including surgical procedures, sepsis, trauma, or cerebrovascular diseases (3). Although acute pulmonary embolism has been listed as a potential contributor in TC, there are currently no case reports of TC mimicking acute pulmonary embolism in the literature. Here, we present a rare case of HHS mimicking acute pulmonary embolism that completely recovered with anticoagulant and diuretic therapies