A “broken heart” on a cruise ship

Abstract

An elderly female cruise ship passenger developed chest pain shortly after an emotionally charged incident involving shipboard authorities. The electrocardiogram and cardiac enzyme profile were indicative of myocardial infarction but the final diagnosis, established after aeromedical evacuation, was stress-related cardiomyopathy. This case is an example of a relatively unknown clinical entity that is easily mistaken for acute myocardial infarction and which may be disproportionately prevalent in the cruise ship passenger population.