Broken Heart Syndrome

November 1, 2006 (WLS) -- Just about all of us have had our hearts broken at one time or another. Now, researchers are discovering that severe grief can cause a real medical condition that looks much like a heart attack and is often misdiagnosed.

Pat Massof remembers all the good times she spent with her mother, who died last year.

"I lost my best friend, so it was very difficult, and it was something that I guess I just wasn't prepared for," said Massof, broken heart patient.

Pat also wasn't prepared for what happened next. She started to have intense chest pains and went to her doctor.

"She said, 'Well Pat, you've just had a massive heart attack.' And I said, 'No way!' "

Then cardiologist Ilan Wittstein diagnosed Pat with broken heart syndrome. It happens when stress causes the body to releases certain hormones such as adrenaline which basically stun the heart.

It looks like a heart attack but is much different.

"While the heart muscle looks very weak at the time that the person comes in, it fully recovers, and they're left with no permanent damage," said Dr. Ilan Wittstein, cardiologist, Johns Hopkins.

In one image, the heart is barely moving. But four days later, it's beating normally. Grief or just about any stressful situation can trigger it.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been researching this condition, and they think about 2 percent of heart attack patients, roughly 30,000 people, may actually have broken heart syndrome.

"We had one woman who was held up at gunpoint and had this happen," Wittstein said.

Cardiologists at Rush University Medical Center are now on the lookout for this syndrome and say they have been able to diagnose several cases.

"There are some people more susceptible than others, but we don't know who they are, so don't take a chance and go to the emergency room," said Dr. Annabelle Volgman, cardiologist, Rush University Medical Center.

An echocardiogram or angiogram usually reveals no blockages and a heart attack is ruled out. It's more common in women, but doctors don't yet know why.

"I think we are just starting to understand the difference in what our different hormones do to our heart," said Dr. Volgman. "We are now just starting to understand a lot of differences in men and women, but we need to keep doing more research to help these women."

If you have intense chest pain after a stressful event, see your doctor right away. Broken heart syndrome is treated like a heart attack at first, but after a few days, you may not need any medication.

Pat has worked on lowering her stress with yoga.

"I feel a lot better today," Pat said.

It's takes time, but in Pat's case, her broken heart appears to be healed.

A true heart attack actually kills heart cells causing permanent damage. That does not happen with broken heart syndrome. The initial emergency treatment for this syndrome is much the same as a full-fledged heart attack, so an initial misdiagnosis does no harm.

By the way, the clinical name for this is "stress cardiomyopathy," and you can die from it if you don't get treatment.

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