Reduced Heartbeat-Evoked Responses in a Near-Death Case Report

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cardiology
• Physiology

Background:

• Brain-heart communication under ventricular fibrillation (VF) is poorly understood.
• Limited evidence suggests potential physiological changes in cortical activity during VF.
• Previous studies have not investigated brain-heart interactions during VF.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate brain-heart communication during ventricular fibrillation (VF).
• To measure parallel changes in heart-rate variability (HRV), cortical activity, and brain-heart interactions.
• To analyze these interactions in a patient experiencing VF.

Main Methods:

• Acquisition of electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (EKG) signals over approximately 20 hours.
• Selection of 1-minute segments based on EKG waveform changes.
• Analysis of heartbeat-evoked responses (HERs), HRV, and EEG power.

Main Results:

• Overall physiological activity deteriorated as VF progressed.
• Brain-heart interactions, measured by HERs, disappeared with occasional aberrant amplitudes.
• Parallel changes in EEG and HRV were not pronounced, indicating absent bidirectional neural control.

Conclusions:

• Evolving VF impairs communication between the central and autonomic nervous systems.
• Reduced brain-heart interactions correlate with loss of consciousness.
• Deterioration in brain-heart interactions reflects an overall decline in health status.