A new study has found a weakening of the human immune system can cause damage to the heart, usually experienced through the extreme emotional stress of losing a loved one. Broken heart syndrome – or Takotsubo syndrome – is thought to affect 6,000 Britons each year and occurs after acute stress causes the heart’s muscles to shut down. Broken heart syndrome is usually caused by sudden emotional shocks, typically a bereavement or relationship breakdown.
Symptoms include a shortness of breath and chest pain, and can easily by mistaken for a heart attack.
But unlike a heart attack, Takotsubo syndrome does not cause a blockage of the arteries leading to the heart.
Instead, the emotional killer weakens the heart muscles while the left ventricle swells in size and shape – resulting in an inability to properly push blood around the body.
The syndrome was discovered by scientists in Japan 30 years ago, who gave the name Takutsubo – or Octopus – to the condition, due to its similar shape to the deep-sea creature.
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The study of 55 patients published in Circulation medical journal Circulation showed symptoms that include severe inflammation in the hearts of those suffering with broken heart syndrome.
The research also found the condition was present five months after they occurred in patients with the condition.
But Professor Dana Dawson said that the result did not prove whether broken heart syndrome alone triggered deadly inflammatory responses directly – of if inflammations were a reactive response to the condition.
Professor Dawson said: “We found that broken heart syndrome triggers a storm in the immune system which results in acute inflammation in the hear5t muscle.
“This spills inflammatory signals that are circulating throughout the body.
“We still don’t know if this is the cause of broken heart syndrome itself or if it is a reactive response.”