Key result
Review outlines mechanisms underlying heart-brain interactions and neurological complications after cardiac surgery.
This review emphasizes the need for an integrative understanding of heart-brain interactions to mitigate neurological injury following cardiac surgery.
May guide neuroprotective strategies post-cardiac surgery; leaves open whether mechanistic insights translate to improved outcomes.
The heart is in constant communication with the brain via the nervous and circulatory systems, yet clinical training rarely adopts an integrative view of the heart and brain. Each has its own intrinsic control mechanisms, and the heart can beat even when not connected to the brain, because pacemaker cells at various locations in the heart possess the ability to spontaneously generate electrical impulses. However, the connection between the heart and brain underlies various (patho)physiological mechanisms, and this is especially important when trying to understand some of the factors behind brain injury observed after cardiac surgery. This is an important complication of cardiac surgery and, given increased survival rates after heart surgery, particularly in an ageing population who may already be experiencing cognitive decline, this deserves special attention and will be the focus of this article.
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Helen Cowan (2015) conducted a review in Neurological injury after cardiac surgery. Cardiac surgery was evaluated. This review highlights the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying heart-brain interactions, focusing on neurological injury as a significant complication following cardiac surgery.
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