Background and purpose: Patients with heart failure often experience cognitive deficits. The relationship between systolic function and cerebral gray matter injury is unclear.
Methods: An automated program SIENAX (v2.2) was used to extract brain volume and for segmentation of grey and white matter in subjects with low left ventricular ejection fraction (< 50%) and normal ejection fraction (≥ 50%). T1-weighted spin-echo axial sequences were used for analysis.
Results: 14 cases with low left ventricular ejection fraction and 14 age-matched controls were evaluated. A modest correlation between grey matter volume and low left ventricular ejection fraction was demonstrated (r=0.51, p=0.06), not seen with white matter volumes. The mean grey matter volume was 507.4±166.3 ml in the low left ventricular ejection fraction group and 541.3±167.2 ml in the control group (p=0.57).
Conclusion: Low left ventricular ejection fraction may lead to cerebral grey matter injury. Larger studies including multi-modal MRI and neuropsychological assessments are warranted to explore potential mechanisms.
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