Cardiac disease in brain-heart disorders.

Abstract There are a number of acute central nervous system (CNS) disorders, which trigger an acute cardiac reaction (brain-heart disorders). Both the brain and the heart may be previously normal or affected by chronic hereditary or acquired disease. The most common of these acute CNS disorders include subarachanoid bleeding, epilepsy, ischaemic stroke, intracerebral bleeding, infectious meningitis/encephalitis, immune-encephalitis, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, migraine, central sleep apnoea syndrome, restless leg syndrome, and traumatic brain injury. Affection of the heart caused by these CNS abnormalities includes takotsubo syndrome, arrhythmias, heart failure or systolic/diastolic dysfunction, myocardial infarction, arterial hypertension, or pulmonary hypertension of which takotsubo syndrome, arrhythmias, or heart failure are the most frequent. Arrhythmias triggered by acute CNS disease include supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmias, including sudden cardiac death. Cardiologists a...