Woman develops takotsubo cardiomyopathy after eating large quantity of Wasabi: BMJ Case Reports

It is truly said that too much of anything is bad. Recently a case of a woman who developed takotsubo cardiomyopathy after attending a wedding function where she overate Japanese horseradish or Wasabi, assuming it to be avocado went viral on the internet. The case was reported in Journal BMJ Case Reports.

Wasabi or Japanese horseradish is a plant of the family Brassicaceae, which also includes horseradish and mustard in other genera. A paste made from its ground rhizomes is used as a pungent condiment for sushi and other foods.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a cardiac disorder which is triggered by stress. It is a sudden transient cardiac syndrome that involves dramatic left ventricular apical akinesis and mimics acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The disorder got its name from japan as it was first discovered there in 1990.

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A patient who develops this syndrome is often presented with chest pain, have ST-segment elevation on electrocardiography (ECG) and have elevated cardiac enzyme levels consistent with myocardial infarction.

Japanese horseradish is a plant of the family Brassicaceae. A paste made from its ground rhizomes is used as a pungent sauce for sushi and other foods.

In this case, the 60-years-old woman attending a wedding in Israel ate a large amount of wasabi thinking that it is avocado. A few minutes later, she felt a sudden pressure on her heart expanding to her arms. Despite these symptoms, she decided to stay at the wedding.

Next day she felt weakness and discomfort which prompted her to see a doctor.

After doing the test the doctors confirmed that she had broken heart syndrome acco0rding to the report authors, from Soroka University Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel.

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Till date, it is the first case of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy that has been reported after having Japanese horseradish. However, it is still not clear whether wasabi was responsible or it was overeating alone that caused this syndrome.