‘Don’t give sudden news to emotional heart patients’

Lucknow: Kavita (name changed), a 50-year-old home-maker from Indiranagar, was cooking food for her children when her husband told her that her mother had passed away due to a stroke.

On hearing this, there was a severe pain in her chest and she started having difficulty in breathing. She was brought to the cardiology emergency of Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS).

After the ECG, Eco, blood and angiogram tests, she was diagnosed with a broken heart syndrome, known medically as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) or stress-induced cardiomyopathy — a condition that mimics acute coronary syndrome — or blockage in vein, but in this condition there is no blockage.

“Though she quickly recovered and didn’t experience long-lasting effects, delay in treatment could have been fatal,” said Prof Sudeep Kumar, faculty at cardiology department, SGPGIMS while sharing her example at the 4th National Heart Disease conference of Cardiological Society.

Stress and extreme emotions can trigger TTC. Overly emotional people, mainly women aged 50-74 years of age are more vulnerable to it, said Kumar. “Hence family members, neighbours and relatives of such people should avoid giving them any bad or good news right away, because the nexus of the heart, brain and mind might cause an episode of TTC,” he said.