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When the Heart Hurts

Pain Perception and Cardiovascular Control

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Brain and Heart Dynamics

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Abstract

The relationship between the sensation of pain and cardiovascular system has been investigated only over the past decades, highlighting significant connections between various areas of our central nervous system and the heart, putting such organs at a very close distance.

The nociceptive pathways lead painful stimuli across the nervous system to specifically designated areas, involving the phenomena of transduction, transmission, perception, and modulation.

The autonomic response to pain is able to determine a series of systemic effects, and the cardiovascular system is primarily involved, through the rise in heart rate (HR), arterial blood pressure (BP), together with respiratory rate and muscle tension.

Acute postoperative pain is a good example of how powerful stimuli, if not properly treated, may seriously affect the whole organism, leading in the end to increased cardiac workload and potentially lethal imbalance between oxygen demand and supply. This becomes even more evident in case patients become chronically exposed to pain.

The positive impact of analgesia on cardiovascular control, finally, indicates that this heart-brain relationship is real and can be a therapeutic target in order to improve not only the patients’ symptoms but also their cardiovascular health.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anestesia, Rianimazione e Medicina del Dolore, Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy

    Elena Bignami

  2. U.O. Anestesia e Rianimazione, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

    Alberto Castella

Authors
  1. Elena Bignami
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  2. Alberto Castella
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elena Bignami .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Drug Sciences, Pharmacology Sect, University of Pavia, Dept of Drug Sciences, Pharmacology Sect, Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Stefano Govoni

  2. Dept of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia Dept of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Pierluigi Politi

  3. Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Department of Molecular Medicine, Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Emilio Vanoli

Section Editor information

  1. Anesthesia Intensive Care Department, Multimedica IRCCS Hospital, Sesto san Giovanni (MI, Italy

    Massimo Allegri

  2. Italian Pain Group, Milan, Italy

    Massimo Allegri

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Bignami, E., Castella, A. (2019). When the Heart Hurts. In: Govoni, S., Politi, P., Vanoli, E. (eds) Brain and Heart Dynamics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90305-7_39-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90305-7_39-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90305-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90305-7

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