• Horgan, Graham
• Krishnadas, Rajeev
• Noman, Awsan
• Mezincescu, Alice
• Rudd, Amelia
• Stewart, Andrew
• Abbas, Hassan
• Dawson, Dana
• Gamble, David
• Khan, Hilal
• Waiter, Gordon
• Williams, Christopher

Abstract

Background: Takotsubo syndrome mimics an acute myocardial infarction, typically in the aftermath of mental or physical stress.<br/>Objectives: The mechanism by which emotional processing in the context of stress leads to significant cardiac injury is poorly understood, therefore a full exploration of brain structure and function in takotsubo syndrome patients merits investigation.<br/>Methods: Twenty-five acute (&lt; 5 days) takotsubo patients and 25 controls were recruited into this observational cross-sectional study. Surface-based morphometry was carried out on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to extract cortical morphology based on volume, thickness and surface area using Freesurfer. Cortical morphology general linear models were corrected for age, gender, photoperiod and total brain volume. Resting state functional MRI and diffusion tensor tractography images were pre-processed/analysed with<br/>FMRIB’s Diffusion Toolbox/ CONN toolbox.<br/>Results: There was significantly smaller total white matter and subcortical grey matter volumes in takotsubo (pConclusions: We showed smaller grey and white matter volumes driven by smaller cortical surface area, but increased cortical thickness and structural tractography connections with bidirectional changes in functional connectivity linked to emotion, language, reasoning,

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• morphology
• surface