Experts form Aberdeen University believe a condition know as 'broken heart syndrome' may leave longer lasting damage than previously thought.

About 3,000 people per year in the UK suffer from takotsubo syndrome which is triggered by severe emotional stress.

A team from Aberdeen University, funded by the British Heart Foundation, followed 52 takotsubo syndrome patients over four months.

The researchers used ultrasound and cardiac MRI scans to look at how the patients' hearts were functioning.

They found that the heart's pumping motion had been damaged and parts of the heart's muscle were replaced by fine scars, which prevented it from contracting properly.

These findings may help to explain why takotsubo sufferers have similar long-term survival rates to people who've had a heart attack.

Dr Dana Dawson who led the research, said: "We used to think that people who suffered from takotsubo cardiomyopathy would fully recover, without medical intervention.

"Here we've shown that this disease has much longer lasting damaging effects on the hearts of those who suffer from it.

"Recent studies have shown that this disease is not as rare as we thought, so finding out the effect that it has on sufferers' hearts is increasingly important."