ABOVE: Takotsubo syndrome is so named because it causes the heart’s left ventricle to weaken (left) so that the organ assumes a shape reminiscent of the Tako-Tsubo pot used in Japan to catch octopuses (right).
EUR HEART J, DOI:10.1093/EURHEARTJ/EHAB029, 2021; THE SCIENTIST STAFF
The paper
A. Radfar et al., “Stress-associated neurobiological activity associates with the risk for and timing of subsequent Takotsubo syndrome,” Eur Heart J, ehab029, 2021
Takotsubo syndrome, also known as broken heart syndrome, is a rare, reversible condition with symptoms mimicking a mild heart attack. A disease that disproportionately affects women, TTS is triggered by stressful events such as bankruptcy, the death of a loved one, or divorce, and results in a weakening of the heart’s left ventricle such that it becomes temporarily misshapen.
Previous work has shown that TTS patients have elevated activity in their amygdala, a brain region involved in stress response. What has never been ...
