Dorsal vagal nucleus involvement relates to QTc-prolongation after acute medullary infarction.

BACKGROUND

Infarction of the medulla has been associated with prolongation of the QTc, severe arrhythmia, and sudden cardiac death, yet the precise anatomical substrate remains uncertain.

AIMS: We sought to determine the possible anatomical structures relating to QTc-prolongation in patients with acute medullary infarction.

METHODS

We included 12 subjects with acute ischemic medullary infarction on brain MRI, who presented within 4.5 h from the last known well time, with a 90-day follow-up. For an unbiased lesion analysis, medullary infarcts were manually outlined on diffusion weighted MRI and co-registered with an anatomical atlas.

RESULTS

Nine out of 12 had QTc-prolongation. Qualitative and semi-quantitative comparisons were made between infarct location and QTc-prolongation. Among patients with QTc-prolongation, the greatest degree of congruence of the infarct location was over the dorsal vagal nucleus (DVN, 8 out of 9). There was a significant correlation between the number of sections showing infarction of the DVN and presence of QTc-prolongation (r = .582, p = .047). Among patients without QTc-prolongation, the maximum lesion overlap included the medial aspect of the gigantocelluar reticular nucleus of the reticular formation.

CONCLUSION

We found that the DVN is a key anatomical substrate related to QTc-prolongation. Further studies with more patients and high-resolution, volumetric MRI are needed to confirm our findings.