cardiac electrical dysfunction in acute brain lesions

this study briefly reviews the heart abnormalities in diverse intracranial pathologies, including strokes, spontaneous and traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage and intracranial hemorrhage, and presents the results of a one-year prospective study of heart abnormalities in patients with moderate to severe head injuries and subarachnoid hemorrhage. different abnormalities such as: qt -interval, t -waves, u-waves, qrs complex, st-segment, arterial and ventricular flutter and pac, heart arrhythmia, angina pectoris and blood pressure changes were recorded and analyzed. the most common electrocardiographic change was st -segment depression (67%). this report tries to identify a rational relationship among the severity of head injury, site of lesion and level of consciousness at the time of admission, different surgical procedures, site of operation, prognosis and cardiac abnormalities. the presence of the complete pathway for sympathetic outflow from the orbital-frontal cortex to the limbic system via stellate ganglia to the heart is also discussed. in conclusion cardiac abnormalities can greatly increase the morbidity and mortality of patients with intracranial pathologies. emphasis is made on timely prevention and treatment of cardiac abnormalities preferably by stabilization of homeostasis of the brain condition by medical and surgical techniques anti-arrhythmic drugs should be avoided unless strongly indicated. obviously ventricular flutter and fibrillation must be treated with countershock and anti-arrhythmic drugs.