Asystolias in the acute phase of brain stroke. Report of a case

Brain areas involved in heart autonomic control are not well characterized. Insulae have been proposed as control centers. A lesion in these areas may induce a cardiac autonomic dysfunction (arrhythmias, atrioventricular conduction abnormalities). Asystolia has not been previously reported. A 65-year-old man suffered an acute ischemia of the right middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory. NIHSS score was 19 points. Brain CT scan was normal. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) showed occlusion of the right MCA. Fibrinolysis was initiated 135 minutes after stroke onset with TCD monitoring. Twenty minutes later he suffered cardiac arrest with asystolia trace in the ECG monitor. Fibrinolysis was stopped during resuscitation. Four minutes later, he recovered with the same NIHSS score. Aggressive resuscitation maneuvers were not necessary. A repeated brain CT scan showed infarct signs in the whole MCA territory and a new TCD did not show any change. Serial blood analyses including cardiac nzymes were normal. The patient experienced four brief cardiac arrests in the next nine hours, so a temporary cardiac pacemaker was placed for four days. He was treated with aspirin and was discharged 14 days after admission. He has not experienced recurrences during a 6-month follow-up. We could not diagnose the etiology of the cardiac arrests. All the episodes occurred in the acute stroke stage and arrhythmia, atrioventricular block, myocardial ischemia or structural lesions were not found in the cardiac study. We propose that ischemia in the right insula induced sudden and transitory interruptions of the sympathetic cardiac tone.