Takotsubo (stress) cardiomyopathy is often preceded by a major life crisis. For example, cardiac deaths jumped threefold during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles, points out UCLA cardiologist Dr. Karol Watson at Piedmont Heart’s Napa Valley Cardiology Conference. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is also known as Broken Heart Syndrome. But can a “broken heart” mend?