When patients with broken heart syndrome survive a life-threatening complication that renders the heart suddenly unable to pump enough blood, they remain at greater risk of death for years afterwards, according to research to be presented in Chicago at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2018, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians. The study will also be simultaneously published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.
When patients with broken heart syndrome survive a life-threatening complication that renders the heart suddenly unable to pump enough blood, they remain at greater risk of death for years afterwards, according to research to be presented in Chicago at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2018, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians. The study will also be simultaneously published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.
“Beyond the higher short-term mortality, for the first time this analysis found people who experienced broken heart syndrome complicated by cardiogenic shock were at high risk of death years later, underlining the importance of careful long-term follow-up especially in this patient group,” said Christian Templin, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and head of acute cardiac care at the University Heart Center at University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
Broken heart syndrome (also called takotsubo syndrome) is often triggered by physical or emotional stress in which the heart’s main pumping chamber enlarges and does not pump well. Symptoms, such as chest pain and shortness of breath, mimic those of a heart attack, but there is no heart muscle damage or blockage in the heart’s arteries, and recovery usually occurs in days or weeks, provided that the patient overcomes the acute phase, which can be life-threatening.
In about one in ten cases, patients with broken heart syndrome develop cardiogenic shock, a condition in which the heart suddenly cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. Cardiogenic shock is a well-known cause of death after a severe heart attack, but prior to this study little was known about risk factors and outcomes when it occurs in patients with broken heart syndrome.
Read more at American Heart Association
Image: This is Christian Templin M.D. Ph.D., Head of Acute Cardiac Care, University Heart Center at University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland (Copyright: Sam Rogers)
