In honor of Valentine's Day, we bring you the story of how hearts really can break. Doctors do occasionally diagnose someone with "broken heart syndrome," but the patients aren't necessarily the lovelorn dump-ees of the world. The heart problem, which is more technically known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy, can be brought on by all kinds of emotional and physical stresses. Externally, someone with broken heart syndrome may appear to be having a heart attack, but the physical mechanism is actually quite different. ABC News reports:
While a heart attack is usually caused by blocked arteries, medical experts believe broken heart syndrome is caused by a surge in adrenaline and other hormones. When patients experience an adrenaline rush in the aftermath of a stressful situation, the heart muscle may be overwhelmed and become temporarily weakened.
This causes the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, to stop contracting normally. Doctors estimate that ...
