Small heart syndrome

Small heart syndrome is associated with a small heart shadow on a chest X-ray or magnetic resonance imaging. It was first proposed in 1944 as "neurocirculatory asthenia." Current studies show that small heart syndrome is associated with a smaller left ventricular chamber size and diminished cardiac stroke volume.

Small heart syndrome is characterized with weakness or fatigue even after ordinary exertion, heart palpitation, dyspnea, and fainting. Miwa and Fujita have shown that it is signiﬁcantly more prevalent in ME/CFS patient (61%) compared to a control group (24%).

Notable studies

 * 2012, Small Heart as a Constitutive Factor Predisposing to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Full text)
 * 2011, Small Heart With Low Cardiac Output for Orthostatic Intolerance in Patients With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Full text)
 * 2009, Cardiovascular dysfunction with low cardiac output due to a small heart in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome - (Full text)
 * 2008, Small Heart Syndrome in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Abstract)

Learn more

 * 2012, Chapter 5, Small Heart as a Constitutive Factor Predisposing to Chronic fatigue Syndrome, in An International Perspective on the Future of Research in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, edited by Christopher Snell