To synthesize evidence on the anatomical, molecular, and clinical interactions within the heart-brain axis across various pathological conditions, highlighting its significance in clinical practice.
Key Findings:
The heart-brain axis is interconnected through neural and humoral pathways, impacting cardiovascular and cerebral homeostasis, with implications for treatment.
Stroke-heart syndrome includes cardiovascular complications following acute ischemic stroke, such as myocardial injury and arrhythmias, affecting patient outcomes.
Cardiac conditions increase the risk of stroke and cognitive decline, with myocardial ischemia initiating systemic inflammation that complicates treatment.
Current risk stratification models do not incorporate neurocardiac parameters, limiting prognostic assessments and necessitating new frameworks.
Interpretation:
The review emphasizes the need for a comprehensive understanding of the heart-brain connection to improve risk assessment and treatment strategies for patients with concurrent cardiovascular and neurological conditions, suggesting areas for future research.
Limitations:
Current guidelines do not integrate heart-brain interactions into routine clinical practice, which may lead to suboptimal patient management.
Lack of validated frameworks for assessing neurocardiac parameters in risk models, potentially leading to biases in clinical assessments.
Conclusion:
A bidirectional approach to understanding heart-brain interactions can enhance prognostic frameworks and guide integrated management pathways for high-risk patients, emphasizing the need for clinical integration.
