Kolettis TM. Autonomic function and ventricular tachyarrhythmias during acute myocardial infarction. World Journal of Experimental Medicine 2018; 8(1): 8-11 [PMID: 30191139 DOI: 10.5493/wjem.v8.i1.8]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Theofilos M Kolettis, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute and University of Ioannina Medical School, 1 Stavrou Niarxou Avenue, Ioannina 45500, Greece. thkolet@cc.uoi.gr
Research Domain of This Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World Journal of Experimental Medicine. Aug 30, 2018; 8(1): 8-11 Published online Aug 30, 2018. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v8.i1.8
Autonomic function and ventricular tachyarrhythmias during acute myocardial infarction
Theofilos M Kolettis
Theofilos M Kolettis, Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute and University of Ioannina Medical School, Ioannina 45500, Greece
Author contributions: Kolettis TM wrote this article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Theofilos M Kolettis, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute and University of Ioannina Medical School, 1 Stavrou Niarxou Avenue, Ioannina 45500, Greece. thkolet@cc.uoi.gr
Telephone: +30-265-1007227 Fax: +30-265-1007053
Received: July 5, 2018 Peer-review started: July 5, 2018 First decision: August 2, 2018 Revised: August 5, 2018 Accepted: August 21, 2018 Article in press: August 21, 2018 Published online: August 30, 2018 Processing time: 56 Days and 2.8 Hours
Abstract
Most cases of sudden cardiac death are attributed to sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTs), triggered by acute coronary occlusion. Autonomic dysfunction, an important arrhythmogenic mechanism in this setting, is being actively investigated, aiming at the advent of preventive strategies. Recent experimental studies have shown vagal withdrawal after anterior myocardial infarction, coinciding with high incidence of VTs, followed by more gradual sympathetic activation coinciding with a second arrhythmia peak. This article summarizes recent knowledge on this intriguing topic, generating hypotheses that can be investigated in future experimental and clinical studies.
Core tip: Autonomic dysfunction in response to acute myocardial infarction is subject of continuous investigation. Recent experimental data indicated vagal withdrawal, followed by more gradual sympathetic activation, coinciding with early and delayed arrhythmogenesis, respectively. These findings call for further research on the pathophysiologic role of the autonomic nervous system on the ischemic ventricular myocardium.
