By Robert Preidt
HealthDay reporter
FRIDAY, March 26, 2021 (HealthDay News) – The brain may play a role in what is known as broken heart syndrome, according to a new study.
Formally known as Takotsubo Syndrome (TTS), it is a temporary – but potentially fatal – heart disease caused by stressful situations and emotions.
In this study, published March 25 in the European Heart Journal, the researchers wanted to find out whether increased stress-related metabolic activity in the brain could increase the risk of the syndrome. Therefore, they analyzed imaging scans of 41 people who later developed the syndrome and 63 who didn’t.
The scans were performed on the patients for other medical reasons.
“Areas of the brain that have higher metabolic activity tend to be used more frequently. Therefore, higher activity in the stress-associated centers of the brain suggests that the individual is more actively responding to stress,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, director of nuclear cardiology and co-director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.
continuation
The researchers found that increased activity in the brain’s amygdala predicted subsequent TTS as well as the timing of the syndrome. For example, people with the highest activity in the amygdala developed the syndrome within a year of their brain scans, while people with moderate activity in the amygdala developed the syndrome a few years later.
“We show that TTS does not just arise because you encounter a rare, terribly disturbing event – like the death of a spouse or child, as the classic examples show. Rather, people with high stress-related brain activity seem to be prepared to develop TTS – and can develop the syndrome when exposed to more frequent stressors, even a routine colonoscopy or a broken bone, “Tawakol said in a hospital press release.
The study also found an association between stress-related brain activity and bone marrow activity in individuals.
Bone marrow produces different types of blood cells that carry oxygen, trigger immune responses, and clot blood, so stress-related brain activity can affect the activity of cells that affect heart health, the researchers said.
continuation
Measures to reduce stress-related brain activity could reduce the risk of the syndrome.
“Studies should test whether such approaches to reducing stress-associated brain activity reduce the likelihood of TTS recurrence in patients with previous TTS episodes,” Tawakol said.
He also pointed to the need for further study to investigate how reducing stress or drug treatment to reduce stress-related brain activity could benefit heart health.
More information
Johns Hopkins Medicine is more concerned with broken heart syndrome.
SOURCE: Massachusetts General Hospital, news release, March 25, 2021
Comments are closed.