"Broken heart syndrome" protects the heart from adrenaline overload

A condition that temporarily causes heart failure in people who experience severe stress might actually protect the heart from very high levels of adrenaline, according to a new study published in the journal Circulation.

The research provides the first physiological explanation for Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also called "broken heart syndrome" because it affects people who suffer severe emotional stress after bereavement, and suggests guidance for treatment.

Around 1-2 per cent of people who are initially suspected of having a heart attack are finally discovered to have this increasingly recognised syndrome.

The Imperial College London study, which simulated the condition in an animal model, suggests that the body changes its response to adrenaline by switching from its usual role in stimulating the heart to reducing its pumping power. Although this results in acute heart failure, most patients make a full recovery within days or weeks.

The researchers propose that the switch in the heart's response to adrenaline might have evolved to protect the heart from being overstimulated by the particularly high doses of adrenaline that the body releases during stress.

Patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, most often older women, experience symptoms that resemble a heart attack, but heart tests reveal no blockage in the coronary arteries; instead the heart has a balloon-like appearance caused by the bottom of the heart not contracting properly. The same condition is sometimes seen in people who are injected with adrenaline to treat severe allergic reactions.