October 31st, 2011

You may have enjoyed a haunted house as part of your Halloween celebrations – but experts say that you can be scared to death.

A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story interviews Hunter Champion, a heart failure cardiologist and director of the pulmonary vascular disease program at UPMC. He’s a longtime researcher of the cardiac condition properly known as stress cardiomyopathy who says he’s seen 200-250 cases over the course of his career.

Dr. Champion said he believes the cause “is more likely a direct toxic effect of the adrenaline on the heart muscle.”

Anyone with heart attack symptoms after a fright should seek medical attention immediately.