Confusion is often found in everyday life. Whether it’s the burden of work, finances, or the most often affect of young people are due to romance, break in love. But, did you know that a heartbroken disease really exists? In the medical world, this heart-attacking disease is called Broken Heart Syndrome.
What is broken heart syndrome?
Broken heart syndrome (BHS) also called Takotssubo cardiomyopathy is a form of disorder that occurs in the cardiovascular system. At BHS, the function of the heart is ventricular, which relates to the insufficiency of blood flow through the coronary arteries (heart vessels that support the heart).
Broken Heart Syndrome Name
The syndrome has many names that sound complicated, among them transient left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome or stress cardiomyopathy or ampulla cardiomyopathy or neurogenic myocardial stunning.
Broken Heart Syndrome History
The term of stress cardiomyopathy was first introduced by Cebelin and Hirsch in 1980.
In 1986, the Massachusetts General Hospital reported a case of heart failure due to heavy emotional stress. Starting in 2000, many publications of Broken heart syndrome cases from all over the world. In the end, in 2006, stress cardiomyopathy was formally classified in a group of acquired Cardiomyopathies, or Cardiomiopathy obtained (not derived).
This proves that there are many factors other than coronary heart disease that can cause a heart attack, one of which is a psychological problem. The history of severe emotional stress is also a differentiator of BHS with coronary heart disease.
In 1990, Hikaru Sato and the team introduced the term Takotsubo-like left ventricular dysfunction to indicate that the left ventricle of the heart when the systole phase is a takotsubo. Simply known, Takotsubo is an octopus trap (octopus, squid), depicting apical ballooning (swelling or distention of the heart that resembles a balloon).
In 1997, the term of stress cardiomyopathy was revived by Pavin et al. In 1998, a picture of the left Ventriculogram in Circulation Journal attracted the attention of many medical teams (including doctors) because the authors gave the term broken heart.
Increased publication of HBS cases began in the 2000s. In 2005, the official concept of HBS in cardiology and internal medicine began to be established in Western countries. In 2006, HBS was classified into a group of acquired Cardiomyopathies.
In 2018, dozens of experts from various countries resulted in an international consensus of expert documents on the Takotsubo syndrome. One result is the InterTAK (International Takotsubo Diagnostic criteria).
In 2020, Brenton Boyd and Tia Solh state that the Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and Angiotensin II receptor inhibitors (ARB) reduce the incidence of recurrent episodes. The progression is good, with the patient’s healing rate reaching 95 percent.
Broken heart syndrome symptoms
Anyone can experience broken heart syndrome, but research shows this syndrome is the most attacking women.
Although it is called a heartbreak syndrome, the cause of a person to be exposed to this disease can also be physically and emotionally stressed in general, for example, when the person you care about dies, asthma, fatigue, or surprise with good news such as winning sweepstakes.
When you experience these things, the body secretes stress hormones (catecholamines). This hormone can reduce the effectiveness of the heart in the process of blood in the presence of contractions resulting in irregular heart rhythm.
When experiencing heartbreak syndrome, you will feel the following signs:
- Sudden pain in the chest
- Shortness of breath
- Arrhythmia, i.e. Heartbeat with an irregular rhythm
- Cardiogenic shock, the inability of the heart to pump enough blood throughout the body, but only lasts a few days to a matter of weeks, and does not result in damage to other body organs
- Faint
- Low blood pressure
- Heart attack.
The good news, heart broken syndrome is easy to heal in a matter of days to weeks, and most likely will not happen again in the future.
But the bad news, this condition can also lead to acute heart problems, even causing heart failure in a short time.
