Everyone experiences their share of tragedies in their lifetime, but the ways to face and overcome them differ from person to person. Those who have the most difficulty getting back on track after a devastating event are more likely to suffer from “broken heart syndrome”. If the expression has a rather light connotation in everyday language, these disorders (also known as Tako-Tsubo syndrome) are very serious:they can be triggered by severe emotional distress caused by the loss of a loved one, and most importantly can have devastating health effects, according to a just-published study. The symptoms are similar to those of a heart attack, and the disease, which mainly affects women, is in most cases diagnosed in hospital. Until then, scientists argued that the heart could fully recover from the syndrome, but new research suggests that the organ may actually be damaged in the long term. This observation was made by researchers at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, after the British Heart Foundation asked them to look into the matter.
The scientific team studied 52 patients with broken heart syndrome over a period of 4 months. They underwent cardiac MRIs and ultrasounds to determine how their hearts were functioning. Unsurprisingly, the syndrome was found to affect the pumping ability of the heart by delaying the twisting motion made during the heartbeat. The elasticity of the organ, also altered, made it difficult to contract. One of the study's leaders, Dr. Dana Dawson, explains:"We thought that people with Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy could recover completely, and without medical intervention. But we have discovered that the disease actually has devastating long-term effects on the hearts of those who have it “, she explains in the study published in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography and picked up by the Huffington Post UK . One of his colleagues, Dr. Metin Avkiran adds:“Our research shows that in some patients, several aspects of cardiac function remain abnormal at the end of the 4 months following the onset of the disease. The hearts of these patients are damaged, indicating that full recovery may take much longer, or may never occur with the means we have today .
According to him, the priority is to find new treatments as soon as possible that could overcome the syndrome. All that remains is to cross your fingers and trust in the progress of science...
