Highlights
- •Brain-heart disease is more frequent than assumed.
- •All brain disorders need to be investigated for their effect on the heart.
- •Addressing cardiac involvement in CNS disease significantly improves the outcome.
Abstract
There are a number of hereditary and non-hereditary central nervous system (CNS) disorders,
which directly or indirectly affect the heart (brain–heart disorders). The most well-known
of these CNS-disorders are epilepsy, stroke, subarachanoid bleeding, bacterial meningitis,
and head injury. In addition, a number of hereditary and non-hereditary neurodegenerative
disorders may impair cardiac functions. Affection of the heart may manifest as arrhythmias,
cardiomyopathy, or autonomic dysfunction. Rarer cardiac complications of CNS disorders
include heart failure, systolic or diastolic dysfunction, myocardial infarction, arterial
hypertension, or pulmonary hypertension. Cardiomyopathy induced by hereditary CNS
disease mainly include stress-induced myocardial dysfunction, known as Takotsubo syndrome
(TTS). CNS disease triggering TTS includes epilepsy, ischemic stroke, subarachnoid
bleeding, or PRES syndrome. Arrhythmias induced by hereditary CNS disease include
supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmias leading to palpitations, dizziness, vertigo,
fainting, syncope, (near) sudden cardiac death, or sudden unexplained death in epilepsy
(SUDEP). Appropriate management of cardiac involvement in CNS-disorders is essential
to improve outcome of affected patients.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 08, 2014
Accepted:
July 1,
2014
Received in revised form:
May 27,
2014
Received:
February 2,
2014
Footnotes
☆Contribution of the authors: JF designed the review, organized the literature, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. KW completed the literature search, supported in the writing, and provided critical comments.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
