Dorothy Lee and her husband of 40 years were driving home from a Bible study group one wintry night when their car suddenly hit the curb. Mrs. Lee looked at her husband, who was driving, and saw his head bob a couple of times and fall on his chest.

　　一个冬日的夜晚，桃乐茜•李(Dorothy Lee)和她共同生活了40多年的丈夫在圣经学习小组活动结束后驾车回家。她丈夫正在开车，突然汽车冲到了路边。桃乐茜看见丈夫的头上下摆了几下，然后垂在了胸前。

　　In the ensuing minutes, Mrs. Lee recalls, she managed to avoid a crash while stopping the car, called 911 on her cellphone and tried to revive her husband before an ambulance arrived. But at the hospital, soon after learning her husband had died of a heart attack, Mrs. Lee's heart appeared to give out as well. She experienced sudden sharp pains in her chest, felt faint and went unconscious.

　　桃乐茜回忆起，在此之后的几分钟时间里，她成功地避免了一起撞车事故，停住了车，还用手机拨打了报警电话，并试着在救护车到来之前抢救她的丈夫。但当桃乐茜在医院得知丈夫已死于心脏病发作后，很快她的心脏似乎也筋疲力尽了。她忽然感到胸口一阵剧痛，然后晕倒、不醒人事。

　　When doctors performed an X-ray angiogram expecting to find and treat a blood clot that had caused Mrs. Lee's symptoms, they were surprised: There wasn't any evidence of a heart attack. Her coronary arteries were completely clear.

　　医生给她做了X光血管造影，期待着发现并治疗引发其症状的血栓。但令医生惊讶的是：没有任何心脏病发作的迹象。她的冠状动脉非常干净。

　　Doctors eventually determined that Mrs. Lee had suffered from broken-heart syndrome, a name given by doctors who observed that it seemed to especially affect patients who had recently lost a spouse or other family member. The mysterious malady mimics heart attacks, but appears to have little connection with coronary artery disease. Instead, it is typically triggered by acute emotion or physical trauma that releases a surge of adrenaline that overwhelms the heart. The effect is to freeze much of the left ventricle, the heart's main pumping chamber, disrupting its ability to contract and effectively pump blood.

　　医生最终确定桃乐茜患的是伤心综合症(broken-heart syndrome)。为该病起名的医生发现该症似乎特别容易发生在刚刚失去配偶或其它家庭成员的人身上。这种神秘的疾病与心脏病发作很像，但似乎与冠状动脉疾病关联甚少。相反，它通常由剧烈的情感或身体外伤引发，患者肾上腺素水平骤然升高，心脏不堪重负。其结果是作为心脏的主要动力区的左心室的收缩和有效供血能力受到干扰。

　　The phenomenon is a 'concussion' of the heart, says Scott Sharkey, a cardiologist at Minneapolis Heart Institute. 'It's really a heart attack which is triggered by stress rather than by a blocked artery,' he says.

　　明尼阿波利斯心脏研究所(Minneapolis Heart Institute)心脏病专家夏基(Scott Sharkey)说这一现象是一种“心震荡”，是真正的心脏病发作，由压力引发，而不是由动脉阻塞所引发。

　　For reasons that aren't fully understood, the problem, formally known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy, afflicts mostly women after menopause. The syndrome is relatively uncommon, accounting for an estimated 1% to 2% of people -- and about 6% of women -- who are diagnosed with a heart attack. In addition to such common emotions as grief and anger, doctors say broken-heart syndrome has been triggered by a person's anxiety over making a speech, a migraine headache or the emotional response to a surprise party. It can be fatal on occasion, but for the most part patients recover quickly, with no lasting damage to their hearts.

　　该问题的原因并不完全清楚，其正式的说法是压力引发的心肌症，患者绝大多数是绝经后的妇女。该症并不常见，估计占所有被诊断为心脏病发作的患者的1%至2%（女性患者的6%左右）。医生说，除悲伤和愤怒等常见情感外，发表演讲给人造成的焦虑、偏头痛或惊喜聚会给人造成的感情波动也曾引发伤心综合症。有时该症可能致命，但大多数患者会迅速恢复，不会给心脏造成永久损伤。

　　In a conventional heart attack, an obstructed artery starves the heart muscle of oxygenated blood, quickly resulting in the death of tissue and potentially permanently compromising heart function. In contrast, the heart muscle in broken-heart-syndrome patients is stunned in the adrenaline surge and appears to go into hibernation. Little tissue is lost. 'The cells are alive, but mechanically or electrically disabled,' Dr. Sharkey says.

　　普通心脏病发作时，患者动脉受阻，心脏肌肉得到不到含氧血，迅速导致组织坏死，并可能永久损害心脏功能。与之相反，伤心综合症患者的心脏肌肉受到肾上腺素骤升的刺激，似乎进入了休眠状态。组织受损极小。夏基说，细胞还是活的，只是没有了机械力或电动力。

　　Mrs. Lee's heart was so weakened by her episode in 2005 that she nearly died. The 63-year-old required a special balloon pump to support her left ventricle during the first couple of days in the hospital. But Mrs. Lee, who runs her own clothing repair business in a Minneapolis suburb, was discharged within five days. Despite cautions by her doctors, she attended her husband's funeral a few days later. 'I was able to work through my grief both positively and spiritually,' she says. 'I have no effects of [the heart episode] today.'

　　桃乐茜在明尼阿波利斯市郊经营服装修补生意。在2005年的这起事件中，她的心脏功能严重减弱，以至于差点死去。在最初几天住院时，63岁的她需要用特殊的气囊泵支持她的左心室。但她五天后就出院了。她不顾医生的警告，几天后参加了丈夫的葬礼。她说她能够以一种积极的方式，从精神上彻底摆脱悲伤的阴影，到现在心脏都没有问题。

　　When patients are hospitalized with broken-heart syndrome, their hearts might be pumping at as little as 20% efficiency, a mark of serious heart failure, says Chet Rihal, a cardiologist and director of the catheterization clinic at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. But within 48 to 72 hours, many recover to the 60% level that is considered healthy. 'It's remarkable how quickly this will occur and how quickly they will recover,' he says.

　　美国明尼苏达州罗彻斯特市梅约诊所(Mayo Clinic)导管插入科主任、心脏病专家雷哈尔(Chet Rihal)说，患者因伤心综合症入院时，心脏供血效率可能仅有20%，这是严重心力衰竭的标志。但在48至72小时内，许多患者便能恢复到60%，即被认为是健康的水平。他说，这种心脏病发生如此之快，恢复又如此迅速，着实令人关注。

　　Ron Winslow