Brain dysconnectivity with heart failure
Karsten Mueller1, Friederike Thiel1,2, Birol Taskin1
1Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
Brain Communications
|April 24, 2023
Summary
Heart failure is linked to decreased brain connectivity in the precuneus, a region crucial for cognitive function. This decline may indicate shared pathways with Alzheimer's disease and early brain changes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cardiology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Heart failure is associated with structural brain damage, but functional brain changes and their link to cognitive decline remain unclear.
- Existing research lacks a clear pathophysiological connection between heart failure and cognitive impairment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate functional brain connectivity alterations in patients with heart failure using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- To correlate these connectivity changes with cognitive performance and heart failure severity markers.
Main Methods:
- Resting-state fMRI was used to analyze brain connectivity in 80 patients, grouped by coronary artery disease and heart failure status.
- Network centrality and seed-based correlation analyses were performed.
- Correlations were examined between centrality measures and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels.
Main Results:
- Heart failure was associated with decreased network centrality in the precuneus, correlating positively with LVEF and negatively with NT-proBNP.
- A significant interaction between heart failure and cognitive performance was observed, showing reduced precuneus connectivity to other brain regions.
Conclusions:
- The precuneus is a key brain region affected by connectivity decline in heart failure, potentially early in the disease process.
- Findings suggest overlapping pathophysiological pathways or common endpoints between heart failure and Alzheimer's disease, characterized by reduced brain connectivity.
- Altered precuneus connectivity is linked to cognitive decline in heart failure patients.
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