New drug trial hopes to mend 'broken heart syndrome'

Brenda Young felt an "intense overwhelming pain" in her chest when her mother died last year.

She was admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack.

However, the 57-year-old, from St Fergus in Aberdeenshire, was instead diagnosed with what is known as broken heart syndrome.

Also called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, it is a sudden condition estimated to affect thousands of people in the UK each year.

Now she hopes a trial of medication aimed at mending broken heart syndrome, under way at the University of Aberdeen, can help.

Broken heart syndrome is different from a heart attack caused by blocked blood vessels, but has similar symptoms including breathlessness and chest pain.

It is usually triggered by extreme emotional or physical stress.

Often, an unhappy event - such as bereavement - is the trigger.

However, exciting occasions - perhaps a wedding, a big financial gain such as a lottery win, or a new job - have been linked with it too.

Brenda, a residential social worker in Peterhead, has always led an active, busy life.

But when her mother Margaret Chisholm died last November, aged 79, the chest pains started within minutes.

"I just remember thinking 'this cannot be happening, not today'," she said.

"I knew there was something really wrong. My family were all around my mum's bedside and I thought 'how can I tell them I'm having chest pain? Not now'."

She was told that she had probably had a heart attack, and was quickly admitted to hospital for tests, where she was advised she had experienced broken heart syndrome.

"I said 'what on earth is that, I had never heard of this before," she said.

She is now recovering at home and starting to ease back into work.

She feels strongly that more people should be aware of the condition - and is hopeful that the new trial could unlock a specific treatment.

The seven-year long study - funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) - will involve scientists and clinicians from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester and Belfast.

They will work with almost 1,000 patients from 40 hospitals across the country.

It will assess if medicines that relax blood vessels called renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors could be an effective course of treatment.

Prof Dana Dawson, chair in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Aberdeen and consultant cardiologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, is leading the trial.

"Takotsubo syndrome affects thousands of people in the UK year on year - most of whom are women," she explained.

"It is a growing problem and with ever improving clinical recognition the diagnosis rate has increased five-fold in the past decade.

"The long-term risk of death or serious health problems after a takotsubo attack is similar to patients who suffer a heart attack due to a blocked heart artery but despite this, there are no proven therapies for takotsubo, no treatment guidelines, leaving doctors and patients uncertain and concerned."

Dawson said they would be testing for the first time if RAS inhibitors can help in the long-term.

"People living with takotsubo syndrome are effectively in limbo at the moment," she said.

"There is no proven therapy which means treatments can vary from person to person. We know that following an attack, the impact on the patient's quality of life can be extremely debilitating.

"We may find the first therapy that improves survival and reduces the burden of disease after a takotsubo attack, or we may establish these are not effective and therefore redirect the search to other treatments that may work.

"Ultimately, we hope that the outcome of this study will enable takotsubo patients to live a full and healthy life knowing that their condition is being managed as effectively as possible."

She said she had worked on the syndrome for more than 15 years, and was "thrilled" to be working on a potential treatment

The investigators are also working towards extending the study in Australia through collaborations with colleagues from Perth and Adelaide.