Tako-tsubo syndrome in a 12-year-old girl: exhausted heart, not broken heart.

We report the case of a 12-year-old girl with Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy. She was successfully treated in our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for acute left ventricular failure, which occurred after a brief submersion in sea water. At 2-month follow-up she showed an almost complete recovery of cardiac function. We consider Tako-tsubo syndrome, which is rarely reported in the pediatric population, to be the most likely diagnosis.