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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffBroken heart syndrome can mimic a heart attack, with common symptoms being chest pain or shortness of breath. Any long-lasting or persistent chest pain could be a sign of a heart attack, so it's important you take it seriously and call 911 if you experience chest pain.
When to see a doctor
If you're having any chest pain or shortness of breath after a stressful event, seek emergency medical assistance immediately.
- Reeder GS. Stress-induced (takotsubo) cardiomyopathy. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Jan. 12, 2009.
- Wittstein IS, et al. Neurohumoral features of myocardial stunning due to sudden emotional stress. New England Journal of Medicine. 2005;352:539.
- Wittstein IS. The broken heart syndrome. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. 2007;7:S17.
- Gianni M, et al. Apical ballooning syndrome or takotsubo cardiomyopathy: A systematic review. European Heart Journal. 2006;27:1523.
- Merli E, et al. Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy: New insights into the possible underlying pathophysiology. European Journal of Echocardiography. 2006;7:53.
- Prasad A (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic. Rochester, Minn. Jan. 19, 2009.
