An analysis of no fewer than 221 observational studies published between 1988 and 2022, involving more than 13,000 people, found changes in blood vessels in the brain in people with a range of heart conditions, whether they had or had not. not a stroke.
According to a report published in the journal Neurology, the study, which is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the “hidden” changes that occur in the brains of people with a range of heart conditions, shows that these are changes that may increase the risk of stroke stroke and dementia.
Lead study author Dr. Zien Zhou of the George Institute for Global Health in Australia said identifying these changes could play an important role in choosing treatments for these patients.
“Although people with heart disease are two to three times more likely than the general population to have changes in the cerebrovascular system, they are often overlooked because these patients do not routinely undergo brain imaging unless they have suffered a stroke”, he said in a press release from the Institute.
This, the researcher says, may make these patients more susceptible to the risk of brain hemorrhages caused by drugs commonly used to treat or prevent blood clots.
Intracranial hemorrhage is a life-threatening complication with no proven treatment and a survival rate of less than 50 percent, experts say.
Changes in blood vessels in the brain that can only be detected by brain imaging, such as but not limited to silent cerebral infarction, are known to occur more frequently in the elderly or those with high blood pressure.
Although not enough to cause overt neurological symptoms, these changes can lead to subtle neurological deficits and increase the long-term risk of stroke or dementia.
“It is also possible that hidden brain changes and cognitive dysfunction are a consequence of small blood clots traveling to the brain through the arterial circulation after forming in the heart,” the study author added.
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