New Findings May Help Doctors Recognize and Treat "Broken Heart Syndrome"

Broken Heart Syndrome, officially known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and also known as stress cardiomyopathy, is a serious condition resulting from sudden physical or emotional shock. Researchers still do not know what physical processes cause this kind of cardiomyopathy, but they believe a sudden rise in stress hormones may be partly to blame. Researchers are confident that a new study conducted by Brown University will offer new clues to this condition.

New data collected by researchers from Brown University may help doctors recognize this deadly condition. For the research, Brown University has enrolled 40 patients who had Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Ninety-five of the patients are women--the disease strikes older women, primarily.

Broken heart syndrome often mimics a heart attack and the patient requires emergency critical care. The syndrome can be fatal if medical attention is not found.
Researchers say that during the first 48 hours most patients are in critical condition.

Richard Regnante, M.D. stated "They may be in cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, or severe heart failure. They may require advanced life support with airway management and medications to support blood pressure."

One notable fact researchers have discovered so far is that the degree of stress leading to the condition varies greatly. Some subjects had developed Takotsubo cardiomyopathy after living through typically high-stress events, such as a violent crime, while others developed the condition after relatively minor events, such as tooth extraction.

The Brown University study was similar to initial studies done in 2005 by Johns Hopkins University. John Hopkins researches acknowledged the condition and stated

"Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that sudden emotional stress can also result in severe but reversible heart muscle weakness that mimics a classic heart attack."

Researchers at Johns Hopkins found that some people respond to stress by releasing an overabundance of adrenalin and noradrenalin--chemicals which can be toxic in large quantities. These stress hormones may cause sudden spasm of the heart or otherwise disrupt normal heart function. Researchers believe this sudden overload of stress hormones may be what causes the potentially fatal symptoms of broken heart syndrome.

These hormones were found to be much higher in patients with stress cardiomyopathy than in patients who had suffered a classic heart attack.

Despite the initial critical nature of broken heart syndrome, researchers say that with prompt medical care, the patient's prognosis is very good after they survive the first critical 48 hours. Some patients have a complete recovery after two weeks, with no residual damage to the heart muscle. Recovery time for heart attacks, in contrast, is several weeks to several months and the heart muscle is permanently damaged in many cases.

Sources: Science Daily www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070510093404.htm

Johns Hopkins Press Release February 9, 2005: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/02_10_05.html