van Campen, C Linda M C, Verheugt, Freek W A, Rowe, Peter C et al. · Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024 · DOI
This study looked at how blood flow to the brain changes when ME/CFS patients stand up or tilt on a table. Researchers found that in 91% of patients, the heart wasn't pumping enough blood and the brain wasn't getting enough blood flow—and these two problems were directly connected. This suggests that blood vessels in the brain may not be working properly to compensate when blood flow drops, which could explain why many ME/CFS patients feel dizzy or faint when standing.
This study identifies a potential cellular mechanism—endothelial dysfunction—that may underlie the blood flow problems causing orthostatic symptoms in most ME/CFS patients. Understanding this mechanism could lead to new diagnostic tools and targeted therapies specifically addressing vascular dysfunction rather than just treating symptoms.
This study demonstrates correlation between cardiac output reduction and cerebral blood flow reduction, but cannot definitively prove that impaired cerebrovascular compensation causes these changes rather than resulting from them. The retrospective design and use of a heterogeneous patient population limit causal inference. The study also does not prove that endothelial dysfunction is the underlying cause, only that the observed pattern is consistent with it.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
van Campen, C Linda M C, Verheugt, Freek W A, Rowe, Peter C, & Visser, Frans C (2024). The Cardiac Output-Cerebral Blood Flow Relationship Is Abnormal in Most Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients with a Normal Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Response During a Tilt Test.. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12242566
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-campen-2024-cardiac-output,
author = {van Campen, C Linda M C and Verheugt, Freek W A and Rowe, Peter C and Visser, Frans C},
title = {The Cardiac Output-Cerebral Blood Flow Relationship Is Abnormal in Most Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients with a Normal Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Response During a Tilt Test.},
journal = {Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.3390/healthcare12242566},
note = {PubMed: 39765993},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-campen-2024-cardiac-output},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-campen-2024-cardiac-output
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