“Broken heart syndrome” can look just like a heart attack. This test can tell them apart — SkimNews
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- BioTAK score was developed by researchers at the Universities of Zurich and Greifswald, combining biological sex with blood biomarkers to identify Takotsubo syndrome before cardiac catheterization.
- In an independent validation group of nearly 1,800 patients, the score correctly classified almost 90% of participants.
- The underlying study analyzed data from more than 3,600 patients drawn from Switzerland's SPUM-ACS Registry and the International Takotsubo (InterTAK) Registry, established in 2010 and one of the world's largest research infrastructures for the condition.
- Takotsubo syndrome accounts for about 2% of patients initially suspected of having a heart attack and up to one in ten women with acute coronary syndrome, yet cannot be reliably distinguished without invasive testing.
- Two of the score's biomarkers point to the brain-heart axis: one activates neuropeptides tied to stress responses and anxiety, the other to atherosclerotic plaque stability — a biological pattern distinct from a classic heart attack.
- Findings were published in the European Heart Journal; co-last author Christian Templin said the score is not a substitute for catheterization but could help avoid unnecessary invasive procedures in selected patients.
Why it matters: For the roughly one in ten women with acute coronary syndrome who actually have Takotsubo syndrome, a 90%-accurate pre-catheterization score could spare them an unnecessary invasive procedure while still flagging true heart attacks. The brain-heart biomarkers also reframe Takotsubo as a stress-driven condition with its own biological signature, not merely a heart-attack mimic.
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