Small heart syndrome

From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history

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.[1]

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%).[2]

Notable studies[edit | edit source]

  • 2012, Small Heart as a Constitutive Factor Predisposing to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome[3] - (Full text)
  • 2011, Small Heart With Low Cardiac Output for Orthostatic Intolerance in Patients With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome[1] - (Full text)
  • 2009, Cardiovascular dysfunction with low cardiac output due to a small heart in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome[4] - (Full text)
  • 2008, Small Heart Syndrome in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome[2] - (Abstract)

Learn more[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Miwa, Kunihisa; Fujita, Masatoshi (December 2011). "Small Heart With Low Cardiac Output for Orthostatic Intolerance in Patients With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". Clinical Cardiology. 34 (12): 782–786. doi:10.1002/clc.20962. PMC 6652296. PMID 22120591.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Miwa, Kunihisa; Fujita, Masatoshi (July 2008). "Small Heart Syndrome in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". Clinical Cardiology. 31 (7): 328–333. doi:10.1002/clc.20227. PMC 6653127. PMID 18636530.
  3. Miwa, Kunihisa (February 15, 2012). "Small Heart as a Constitutive Factor Predisposing to Chronic fatigue Syndrome". In Snell, Christopher R. (ed.). An International Perspective on the Future of Research in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. InTech. pp. 81–104. doi:10.5772/1460. ISBN 978-953-51-0072-0.
  4. Miwa, Kunihisa; Fujita, Masatoshi (August 2009). "Cardiac function fluctuates during exacerbation and remission in young adults with chronic fatigue syndrome and "small heart"". Journal of Cardiology. 54 (1): 29–35. doi:10.1016/j.jjcc.2009.02.008.