Feb. 10: ?And the abandoned lover died of a broken heart.

No, it?s not just stuff of romance, researchers have established that people can really die of a ?broken heart? caused by a traumatic break-up or the sudden death of a loved one.

Or even the shock of a surprise party that can unleash a flood of stress hormones that can stun the heart.

In a study published ahead of Valentine?s Day, the researchers, led by Ilan S. Wittstein of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said sudden emotional stress ? from grief, fear, anger or shock ? can cause heart failure in otherwise healthy people.

?It?s important for people to know that this is something that emotional stress truly can do,? said Wittstein, a cardiologist and lead author of the article in this week?s edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The research lends credence to the old idea that people can be scared to death or die from sorrow like characters in a novel or a song.

The ?broken heart syndrome?, or stress cardiomyopathy, which seems to affect primarily women, can trigger what seems like a classic heart attack. But the researchers, who treated patients for over four years from 1999, said it is important to distinguish the condition from a heart attack so that victims can be treated properly.

?How exactly it occurs is not clear, but the patients had unusually high levels of stress-related brain chemicals and hormones like adrenaline, which may have temporarily impaired their heart function,? Wittstein said.

According to the article, a death in the family, a robbery and a surprise party were among events that sent 18 women and one man to coronary care units in Baltimore. Most were older: their median age was 63. But one was 27, another 32.

One of the earlier patients, Wittstein said, was a 60-year-old woman whose family had given a surprise birthday party for her. ?Seventy people jumped out from the dark and screamed ?Surprise!? and, literally, three hours later she was in the intensive care unit,? Wittstein said.

Another cardiologist involved in the study said the team treated a patient who was distraught on the anniversary of her husband?s death. She told them she had been hospitalised on two previous anniversaries, and they wondered if she might have had the same condition several times.

But some are sceptical. Dr Deborah Davis Ascheim of the Columbia University Medical Center of New York-Presbyterian said the theory deserves more study. ?It?s intriguing, but I don?t buy it,? she said.

Intriguing it is, but lovers who have gone their different ways will know the pain. As Elton John says, ?Don?t go breaking my heart, I won?t go breaking your heart?.

As for separated Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, it is not known who broke whose heart.