Broken Heartstrings-Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Psychological Burden after Acute Mitral Regurgitation Due to Chordae Tendineae Rupture

Anna Cranz; Anja Greinacher; Ede Nagy; Hans-Christoph Friederich; Hugo A Katus; Nicolas Geis; Sven T Pleger; Christoph Nikendei

doi:10.3390/jcm9124048

Broken Heartstrings-Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Psychological Burden after Acute Mitral Regurgitation Due to Chordae Tendineae Rupture

J Clin Med. 2020 Dec 15;9(12):4048. doi: 10.3390/jcm9124048.

Authors

Anna Cranz¹, Anja Greinacher¹, Ede Nagy¹, Hans-Christoph Friederich¹, Hugo A Katus², Nicolas Geis², Sven T Pleger², Christoph Nikendei¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
² Department of Internal Medicine III, Cardiology, Angiology and Pneumology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.

Abstract

Chordae tendineae rupture (CTR) is a potentially life-threatening cardiac event often resulting in Acute mitral regurgitation (AMR). We assessed Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety symptoms in n=21 CTR patients with AMR (age 82.3 ± 4.2 years; 66.7% men) and compared them to n=23 CTR patients with Chronic mitral regurgitation (CMR) and n=35 Myocardial infraction (MI) patients. Regression analyses revealed that PTSD scores were significantly higher in CTR patients with AMR than in CTR patients with CMR or MI patients. CTR patients with CMR had the lowest levels of PTSD-symptoms. Depression and anxiety scores were elevated across all three groups. Our results suggest that psychosocial factors need to be considered in CTR patients' care.

Keywords: acute mitral regurgitation; chordae tendineae; flail leaflet; heart disease; post-traumatic stress disorder; psychological burden.