The "broken heart syndrome," a rare condition that mimics heart attack symptoms, may now be better understood, thanks to a group of Brown and Miriam Hospital researchers.
Richard Regnante, an interventional cardiology fellow at Miriam and teaching fellow in medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School, initiated the study in July 2004 to determine the demographics most often affected by the disease - formally known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy - and to develop better treatment methods.
The researchers observed approximately 70 patients enrolled at the Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals who were diagnosed with the syndrome. The study was published in the American Journal of Cardiology's April 1 edition this year.
Though the disease has some heart attack symptoms, it does not appear to result from artery blockage. It gets its colloquial name - "broken heart syndrome" - from the fact that it tends to strike after an individual has suffered a traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one, according to a March 27 Providence Journal article.
According to Ryan Zuzek, another teaching fellow involved in the study, previous research determined that the disease was primarily prevalent in women. The Brown-Miriam study aimed to research the causes of the disease and the specific groups of women more prone to developing it.
The results of the study suggest that post-menopausal women at low risk for heart disease are more likely to experience broken heart syndrome after a stressful event. Zuzek also said patients on ACE inhibitors, pharmaceutical drugs that inhibit the angiotensin-converting enzyme to relax blood vessels, did not experience symptoms as severely.
Even without ACE inhibitors, the disease does not usually cause lasting heart damage and patients recover if given the right treatment, Zuzek said, adding that out of the nearly 75 patients in the study, only one elderly patient died after her family decided to take her off life support.
The syndrome also has a low recurrence rate, with only two former patients reporting a return of symptoms, Zuzek said.
The next step in the study of the syndrome is to conduct intravascular ultrasounds on patients to look for ulcers or obstructions, he said. The procedure could help determine if the condition is the result of an aborted heart attack or some other mechanism.
