CFS LINKED WITH CIRCULATORY PROBLEMS

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a baffling disorder of unknown origin. Now, novel research indicates that CFS may be associated with circulatory problems, according to findings presented this week at the American Physiological Society’s annual meeting in San Diego.

Investigators compared 16 CFS sufferers with 4 control subjects. To assess myocardial function, researchers used the radioisotopic multiple gated acquisition (MUGA) blood pool method of ventriculography.

Eighty-one percent of patients had evidence of reduced cardiac function during exercise and postural change, compared with controls.

According to study authors, the new research “raises the possibility that some CFS patients may have cardiac disorders that are subtle enough to escape the current net of clinical cardiological diagnoses, but may be significant enough in some patients — perhaps in conjunction with other factors — to lead to the clinical syndrome of CFS.”

The researchers note that their findings may also be explained by abnormalities other than those with the heart, including problems with the distribution of cardiac output, reduced blood volume, neurogenic alterations and endocrinologic abnormalities. Accordingly, further studies capable of defining more precisely the causes of altered cardiac stress responses are required.

American Physiological Society – April 10, 2003.