HEARTS PHYSICALLY BROKEN BY LOVE.

HEARTS PHYSICALLY BROKEN BY LOVE. This article by Ron Winslow in the Wall Street Journal tells of the discovery in the early 1990’s of “broken-heart syndrome.” The syndrome gets its name because it seems especially to affect patients who have recently lost a spouse. “Acute emotion releases adrenalin that overwhelms the heart.” The patient’s left ventricle takes on a characteristic shape (there is an illustration in the Ron Winslow article). Most patients recover quickly. The formal name of the condition is “stress-induced cardiomyopathy.”