Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or broken-heart syndrome.

While perusing octopus-related journal articles (I know I have been very octopus-centric lately. I will get off my octopus soap box soon) I found this article on takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or broken-heart syndrome. What is this broken-heart syndrome? Apparently, it is a disease that "mimics acute coronary syndrome". What does this have to do with octopuses? The article goes on to say that in Japanese, the tranlation of "tako-tsubo" is "fishing pot for trapping octopus," because "the left ventricle of a patient diagnosed with this condition resembles that shape.

Apparently takotsubo can be precipitated by acute emotional stress--which is why it is called "broken-heart syndrome."

A picture I found of an octopus trap:


Here is a picture of what takotsubo cardiomyopathy looks like:



Citation: S.S. Virani, A.N. Khan, C.E. Mendoz, A.C. Ferreira, and E. de Marchena. 2007. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or broken-heart syndrome. Texas Heart Institute Journal. Volume 34 (1):pp. 76-79.

1 comment:

Letha Hadady said...

With broken heart syndrome the heart overworks due to stress, grief, loss, anxiety so that the left ventricle of the heart becomes enlarged - shaped like a japanese fishing pot - that shows up on an angiogram. The chest pain feels like a heart attack but is not because the blood vessels remain intact. The danger is heart failure from the weakened heart.
Letha Hadady
www.asianhealthsecrets.com