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In the human body, stress cardiomyopathy (or broken heart syndrome) is a condition in which heart muscles are temporarily weakened. Stress cardiomyopathy could easily be confused with a heart attack, but stress cardiomyopathy is much less serious. Emotional stress may trigger stress cardiomyopathy.
It was originally described in Japan as takotsubo-syndrome. Only recently has it become more known in the western world.
Current theory has it that a sudden, massive surge of adrenalin stuns the heart, greatly reducing the ability to pump blood. The common treatment for heart attack of administering adrenalin to support blood pressure is not appropriate for this condition.
For unknown reasons the great majority of stress cardiomyopathy cases have been diagnosed in women. Of 3,000,000 heart attacks in US women diagnosed each year as many as 60,000 may actually be Broken Heart Syndrome, requiring different treatment, according to some estimates.
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