‘Broken heart’ syndrome may originate in part of brain responsible for processing emotions

Scientists have shown for the first time that the brain is involved in the development of a heart condition called Takotsubo syndrome (TTS). They found that regions of the brain responsible for processing emotions and controlling the unconscious workings of the body, such as heartbeat, breathing and digestion, do not communicate with each other as well in TTS patients as in healthy people. The study is published in the European Heart Journal and the researchers say that although at this stage, they cannot show that the reduced brain functions definitely cause TTS, their findings suggest that these alterations in the central nervous