Swiss researchers have been studying people with a rare and unusual condition called broken heart syndrome. Also known as takotsubo syndrome - referring to the shape of the heart in people with this condition, which resembles a Japanese pot with the same name - broken heart syndrome can be brought on by shock. Brain scans showed up noticeable differences compared with scans from 39 healthy, control patients. Dr Ghadri said: "Emotions are processed in the brain so it is conceivable that the disease originates in the brain with top-down influences on the heart." Scans of the patients' brains before or at the time they developed broken heart syndrome were not available, so the researchers cannot say whether the decreased communication between brain regions caused the takotsubo syndrome or vice versa.

Source: The Star March 05, 2019 07:52 UTC