'Broken heart' syndrome linked to cancer and brain's reaction to stress, research finds

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Broken heart syndrome: Could it happen to you?

Broken heart syndrome is not a term Hollywood made up, it's a real heart condition that's brought on by stressful situations, like a heart-wrenching breakup or the death of a loved one. Cardiologist, Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum explains the rare condition that’s often misdiagnosed as a heart attack.

“Broken heart" syndrome, a disease that causes the heart to temporarily weaken, has been linked to the brain’s reaction to stress, a 2019 study has found.

In an article published in the European Heart Journal in March, Swiss researchers said they found a connection between the way the brain communicates with the heart and broken heart syndrome, also called takotsubo syndrome (TTS).

Caused by intense emotional events, TTS is a rare, temporary condition that weakens the left ventricle and disrupts its normal pumping function.

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For their research, Swiss neuroscientists and cardiologists conducted MRI brain scans on 15 TTS patients — on average, about a year after their diagnosis — and compared them to scans of 39 healthy people.

They specifically looked at four brain regions that control emotions, motivation, learning and memory and share information with each other. Two of the regions they analyzed, the amygdala and cingulate gyrus, help control the autonomic nervous system and heart function.

In their analysis of the scans, researchers were able to correlate the function of those regions with TTS.

“We found that TTS patients had decreased communication between brain regions associated with emotional processing and the autonomic nervous system, which controls the unconscious workings of the body, compared to the healthy people,” Christian Templin, research author and professor of cardiology at University Hospital Zurich said in a statement.

“For the first time, we have identified a correlation between alterations to the functional activity of specific brain regions and TTS, which strongly supports the idea that the brain is involved in the underlying mechanism of TTS. Emotional and physical stress are strongly associated with TTS, and it has been hypothesized that the overstimulation of the autonomic nervous system may lead to TTS events," Templin added.

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However, researchers were unable to determine if the decrease in communication between the brain and the heart was the cause of TTS or vice versa because they didn't have MRI scans of the TTS patients’ brains at the time they developed the condition.

“Our results suggest that additional studies should be conducted to determine whether this is a causal relationship,” Dr. Jelena Ghadri, a senior research associate at the University Hospital Zurich and co-author of the study said.

“We hope this study offers new starting points for studying TTS in terms of understanding that it much more than ‘broken heart’ syndrome and clearly involves interactions between the brain and the heart, which are still not fully understood," Ghadri continued.

Symptoms of TTS — chest pain and shortness of breath — are similar to those of a heart attack.

BROKEN HEART SYNDROME: COULD IT HAPPEN TO YOU?

"When you see this disease, takotsubo cardiomyopathy or the broken heart syndrome, there's an exorbitant amount of stress and all of those stress hormones you feel in your head get released into your body and it almost causes your heart to be stunned, these hormones in this stunned moment look like a heart attack,” Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a cardiologist, previously told Fox News.

Many people recover quickly from TTS, though in some rare cases it can be deadly. Steinbaum recommends anyone who experiences symptoms — such as shortness of breath, chest pain or palpitations — to see a doctor immediately.

TTS is more closely associated with sad events like the death of a loved one or the loss of a job, but intensely happy events such as a wedding or winning a lot of money are also linked to the condition.

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Furthermore, an international study from July also linked TTS with cancer.

In a study published by the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers noted that one in six people with TTS were also found to have some form of cancer, and were "less likely to survive for five years after it occurred."

"Of 1,604 patients with broken heart syndrome in the International Takotsubo Registry, 267 patients or 1 in 6 (average age 69.5 years, 87.6% female) had cancer," the research noted. "The most frequent type of malignancy was breast cancer, followed by tumors affecting the gastrointestinal system, respiratory tract, internal sex organs, skin and other areas."

Templin, who also partook in the prior study published in the European Heart Journal, stated that, “Patients with broken heart syndrome might benefit if screened for cancer to improve their overall survival.”

“Our study also should raise awareness among oncologists and hematologists that broken heart syndrome should be considered in patients undergoing cancer diagnosis or treatment who experience chest pain, shortness of breath, or abnormalities on their electrocardiogram,” Templin added.

Fox News' Lindsay Carlton contributed to this report.