About this Research Topic
The heart and brain are two of the most critical organs to support human life and with increasing consensus on the fact that body systems do not operate independently. Extant research had demonstrated the complex interaction between the nervous and cardiovascular systems. This brain-heart interaction mechanism or so-called brain-heart axis (BHA) has become an important field in basic science and clinical research. Advanced non-invasive or minimal-invasive imaging approaches provide the foundation to elucidate the underlined mechanism and offer an accurate diagnosis for the brain-heart interactions and disorders and improve the diagnosis and the treatment of cardiovascular and brain diseases. In addition, advanced neuromodulation techniques (electrical, magnetic, ultrasonic, infrared) potentially served as alternative therapies not only for brain injury but also for cardiovascular diseases such as chronic heart failure and hypertension.
Since neurocardiogenic disorders currently lead to more than one million deaths worldwide each year, there is still an unmet clinical challenge to elucidate the neurocardiogenic mechanism to improve the diagnosis and treatment. Current literature demonstrated the effects of cardiovascular disease on the nervous system and vice versa. For example, the most frequent cause of stroke is cardiac arrhythmia and atrial fibrillation (AF) whereas AF also represents a risk factor for hippocampal atrophy and cognitive dysfunction. In addition, CNS diseases, including ischemic stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and hypothalamic injury can cause stress cardiomyopathy, myocardial ischemia, and arrhythmias. However, the interaction and underlined mechanism between brain-heart axis are still unclear. Thus, multimodal imaging and modulations approach for a comprehensive understanding of the brain-heart interaction to improve the treatment for brain-heart disorders are urgently needed.
We have been working in the cardiovascular and neuroimaging and modulation field for more than a decade, so we are very interested in investigating the brain-heart interactions through imaging and modulation approaches. The aims of our research topic may include but are not limited to:
• Brain-Heart interaction and mechanism
• Novel imaging approaches to investigate the interaction or the effects of cardiovascular disease on the nervous system
• Novel imaging approaches to investigate the interactions or effects of neurological disorders on the cardiovascular system
• Neuromodulation or cardiovascular modulation
Neuromodulation or cardiovascular modulation strategies and their translational research include but are not limited to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (FUS), Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), Heart Pacemaker, intra-aortic balloon catheter and other novel modulation strategies etc.
Since neurocardiogenic disorders currently lead to more than one million deaths worldwide each year, there is still an unmet clinical challenge to elucidate the neurocardiogenic mechanism to improve the diagnosis and treatment. Current literature demonstrated the effects of cardiovascular disease on the nervous system and vice versa. For example, the most frequent cause of stroke is cardiac arrhythmia and atrial fibrillation (AF) whereas AF also represents a risk factor for hippocampal atrophy and cognitive dysfunction. In addition, CNS diseases, including ischemic stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and hypothalamic injury can cause stress cardiomyopathy, myocardial ischemia, and arrhythmias. However, the interaction and underlined mechanism between brain-heart axis are still unclear. Thus, multimodal imaging and modulations approach for a comprehensive understanding of the brain-heart interaction to improve the treatment for brain-heart disorders are urgently needed.
We have been working in the cardiovascular and neuroimaging and modulation field for more than a decade, so we are very interested in investigating the brain-heart interactions through imaging and modulation approaches. The aims of our research topic may include but are not limited to:
• Brain-Heart interaction and mechanism
• Novel imaging approaches to investigate the interaction or the effects of cardiovascular disease on the nervous system
• Novel imaging approaches to investigate the interactions or effects of neurological disorders on the cardiovascular system
• Neuromodulation or cardiovascular modulation
Neuromodulation or cardiovascular modulation strategies and their translational research include but are not limited to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (FUS), Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), Heart Pacemaker, intra-aortic balloon catheter and other novel modulation strategies etc.
Keywords: imaging, brain, heart
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