Purpose of review: Recently, an association between cannabis use and Takotsubo (stress) cardiomyopathy (TTC) has been shown. With the current trend of legalization of cannabis, it is important to understand brain effects of cannabis use that could lead to cardiac disease, such as TTC. Here we review recent brain imaging studies in order to search for the evidence supporting the association between cannabis use, stress, and TTC.
Recent findings: There exist brain imaging studies showing similar findings across TTC, stress, and cannabis use. These similar findings are mainly centered on a key central autonomic network region amygdala, i.e., amygdala hyperactivity/hyperconnectivity when exposed to challenge, stress, or negative stimuli. This similarity supports a close association among cannabis use, stress, and TTC. Amygdala-centered neuronal circuits could underlie cannabis use as risk factor to TTC. Based on the findings, several directions for future studies are proposed.
Keywords: Amygdala; Brain-heart link; Cannabis use; Central autonomic network; Stress; Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.