Essential role of the vagus nerve for cardiac health

Sponsored by The Journal of Physiology

The role of the vagus in controlling cardiac function is essential. Loss of heart rate variability of sinus arrhythmia is a prognostic indicator of cardiac disease including heart failure, arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. What drives the vagus and how its influence is so important in maintaining a healthy heart is not known.  This symposium comes at a time when chronic stimulation of the vagus nerve is being trialled as a therapeutic treatment in human patients with heart failure.  Speakers will present state-of-the-art findings into novel ways of targeting the cardiac vagus and the potential therapeutics outcomes.