Broken Heart Disease

This rare condition is seen mainly in older women and is caused from extreme grief or a severe emotional shock. The Syndrome even changes the shape of the heart (The left ventricle) into a balloon shape.

Research conducted at the Catholic University in Rome, Italy, shows that this syndrome, known as Tako-Tsubo syndrome, or stress-related cardiomyopathy, closely mimics symptoms of a heart attack.

In this condition, which is seen mostly in post-menopausal women, extreme stress causes chest pain, not unlike that experienced during a heart attack. Also, enzyme and ECG tests normally used to confirm a heart attack shows the same changes seen during a true heart attack . The only difference is that there is no blockage of blood to the heart tissue leading to heart damage as happens in a real heart attack event.

The study shows that symptoms disappear spontaneously in 80% of patients after a couple of weeks, leaving no trace of damage behind. The team of scientists studied 15 women who suffered attacks of Tako-Tsubo syndrome and found that the heart (the left ventricle) takes on the shape of a balloon which resembled a type of octopus trap the Japanese call "tako-tsubo' giving the name to the syndrome.

This syndrome is quite rare and occurs under circumstances of exceptional and extreme, prolonged mental stress, anger and resentment such as loss of a loved one. In a small percentage of patients (under 20%) the stress is from physical causes such as massive trauma, severe pain, surgery or other types of physical stress. In very rare circumstances no 'cause' can be found.

Several cases of this unusual syndrome have been reported in Japan, and more recently, in the United States, and Belgium.

The exact explanation of this condition is still unclear, but it is believed that coronary vasospasm is occurring and happens in at least one coronary artery in most patients.

The immediate prognosis for people experiencing broken heart disease is excellent for recovery with no heart damage, but there is no date in the literature regarding long term outcome of patients who have experienced tako-subo cardiomyopathy.

Increased awareness of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy will likely result in its being diagnosed more frequently.

Source: qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/96/8/563