Stroke heart injury: the effect of cerebral reperfusion treatment. A 3-year retrospective study.

Background: Cardiac involvement following an acute stroke (Stroke Heart Syndrome-SHS) is an established complication and it is linked to the involvement of sympathetic activation, inflammation, and neuro-endocrine response. Troponin "rise and fall pattern" > 30% is one marker of SHS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of reperfusion treatments in the prevention/pathogenesis of SHS with different stroke sizes and locations (OCSP classification).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of 890 patients admitted to the Stroke Unit of Trieste (Italy) between 2018 and 2020. Out of them, 411 met the inclusion criteria (acute ischemic non-lacunar stroke). Clinical data were collected for each patient, imaging characteristics, and markers of cardiac injury [troponin I (TnI), NT-proBNP, "rise and fall pattern" > 30%]. We compared different stroke subtypes according to OCSP, while evaluating any differences in patients with and without SHS.

Results: In treated total anterior circulation infarct (TACI) patients, the rate of SHS is lower than in non-treated TACI. Similar SHS rate was found in partial anterior (PACI) and posterior stroke (POCI), and between treated and non-treated patients. Focusing on TACI group, we compared SHS-TACI and non-SHS-TACI, we performed a univariate and multivariate analysis; treatment (OR 0.408 CI95% 0.185-0.900; p = 0.026) and diabetes (OR 2.618 CI95% 1.181-5.803; p = 0.018) were significantly associated to SHS. No clear insular effect was found in SHS development.

Conclusions: In severe anterior stroke (TACI), reperfusion treatment may be effective in preventing SHS. Conversely, diabetes is an independent risk factor for SHS. PACI and POCI have similar troponin elevation rate.