ABSTRACT
Introduction Myocardial stunning has been defined as ‘the mechanical dysfunction that persists after reperfusion despite the absence of irreversible damage and despite restoration of normal or near normal blood flow’.1 Stunning represents an example of ‘flow-function mismatching’. Stunned myocardium recovers spontaneously, a process which may take minutes or days depending on the severity of the causative ischemic insult. The precise mechanism of stunning remains unknown although it is thought to be a form of reperfusion injury.2 It is likely that a combination of oxygen radical production and release during ischemia/reperfusion results in reversible damage to mechanisms of calcium transport and homeostasis which causes functional abnormalities of contraction and relaxation.1
