The epileptic heart: Cardiac comorbidities and complications of epilepsy. Atrial and ventricular structure and function by echocardiography in individuals with epilepsy - From clinical implications to individualized assessment.

Epilepsy is an increasing global neurological health issue. Recently, epidemiological and mechanistic studies have raised concern about cardiac involvement in individuals with epilepsy. This has resulted in the "epileptic heart" concept. Epidemiological data linking epilepsy to cardiovascular disease indicate an increased risk for ventricular and atrial arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and sudden death among individuals with epilepsy. Pathways of this interaction comprise increased prevalence of traditional cardiac risk factors, genetic abnormalities, altered brain circuitry with autonomic imbalance, and antiseizure medications with enzyme-inducing and ionic channel-blocking proprieties. Pathophysiological findings in the atria and ventricles of patients with epilepsy are discussed. Echocardiographic findings and future applications of this tool are reviewed. A risk stratification model and future studies on cardiac risk assessment in individuals with epilepsy are proposed.

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© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.