Autoregulation and CO2 responses of cerebral blood flow in patients with acute severe head injury

1978 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 689-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erna M. Enevoldsen ◽  
Finn T. Jensen

✓ Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), cerebral intraventricular pressure (IVP), systemic arterial blood pressure, and cerebral ventricular fluid (CSF) lactate and pH were studied repeatedly in 23 patients during the acute phase of severe brain injury lasting from 3 to 21 days after the trauma. Cerebrovascular autoregulation was tested repeatedly by means of angiotensin infusion in 21 of the patients, and CO2 response in 14 by means of passive hyperventilation. The pressure in the brain ventricles was measured continuously in all patients and kept below 45 mm Hg during the study. If the IVP increased more than 10 mm Hg during the angiotensin infusion (as in one case), the autoregulation test was considered contraindicated and the angiotensin infusion was discontinued. Dissociation between cerebrovascular autoregulation and CO2 response was a common phenomenon. Typically, autoregulation appeared preserved in the most severely injured areas of the cerebral cortex when the patient was deeply comatose, but deteriorated concomitantly with recovery; by the time the patient became alert, the autoregulation was always impaired. The CO2 response was impaired only in patients who were deeply comatose and had attacks of decerebrate rigidity; during recovery the CO2 response became normal. Thus, preserved autoregulation associated with impaired CO2 response indicated very severe brain damage, whereas impaired autoregulation associated with preserved CO2 response suggested moderate or severe brain damage in recovery. These paradoxical observations raise the question whether the preserved autoregulation seen in severely injured brain tissue is a true autoregulation caused by an active vasoconstrictor response to an increase in blood pressure.

1994 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 857-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Darby ◽  
Howard Yonas ◽  
Elizabeth C. Marks ◽  
Susan Durham ◽  
Robert W. Snyder ◽  
...  

✓ The effects of dopamine-induced hypertension on local cerebral blood flow (CBF) were investigated in 13 patients suspected of suffering clinical vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The CBF was measured in multiple vascular territories using xenon-enhanced computerized tomography (CT) with and without dopamine-induced hypertension. A territorial local CBF of 25 ml/100 gm/min or less was used to define ischemia and was identified in nine of the 13 patients. Raising mean arterial blood pressure from 90 ± 11 mm Hg to 111 ± 13 mm Hg (p < 0.05) via dopamine administration increased territorial local CBF above the ischemic range in more than 90% of the uninfarcted territories identified on CT while decreasing local CBF in one-third of the nonischemic territories. Overall, the change in local CBF after dopamine-induced hypertension was correlated with resting local CBF at normotension and was unrelated to the change in blood pressure. Of the 13 patients initially suspected of suffering clinical vasospasm, only 54% had identifiable reversible ischemia. The authors conclude that dopamine-induced hypertension is associated with an increase in flow in patients with ischemia after SAH. However, flow changes associated with dopamine-induced hypertension may not be entirely dependent on changes in systemic blood pressure. The direct cerebrovascular effects of dopamine may have important, yet unpredictable, effects on CBF under clinical pathological conditions. Because there is a potential risk of dopamine-induced ischemia, treatment may be best guided by local CBF measurements.


2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Vajkoczy ◽  
Harry Roth ◽  
Peter Horn ◽  
Thomas Lucke ◽  
Claudius Thomé ◽  
...  

Object. Current clinical neuromonitoring techniques lack adequate surveillance of cerebral perfusion. In this article, a novel thermal diffusion (TD) microprobe is evaluated for the continuous and quantitative assessment of intraparenchymal regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF).Methods. To characterize the temporal resolution of this new technique, rCBF measured using the TD microprobe (TD-rCBF) was compared with rCBF levels measured by laser Doppler (LD) flowmetry during standardized variations of CBF in a sheep model. For validation of absolute values, the microprobe was implanted subcortically (20 mm below the level of dura) into 16 brain-injured patients, and TD-rCBF was compared with simultaneous rCBF measurements obtained using stable xenon-enhanced computerized tomography scanning (sXe-rCBF). The two techniques were compared using linear regression analysis as well as the Bland and Altman method.Stable TD-rCBF measurements could be obtained throughout all 3- to 5-hour sheep experiments. During hypercapnia, TD-rCBF increased from 49.3 ± 15.8 ml/100 g/min (mean ± standard deviation) to 119.6 ± 47.3 ml/100 g/min, whereas hypocapnia produced a decline in TD-rCBF from 51.2 ± 12.8 ml/100 g/min to 39.3 ± 5.6 ml/100 g/min. Variations in mean arterial blood pressure revealed an intact autoregulation with pressure limits of approximately 65 mm Hg and approximately 170 mm Hg. After cardiac arrest TD-rCBF declined rapidly to 0 ml/100 g/min. The dynamics of changes in TD-rCBF corresponded well to the dynamics of the LD readings. A comparison of TD-rCBF and sXe-rCBF revealed a good correlation (r = 0.89; p <0.0001) and a mean difference of 1.1 ± 5.2 ml/100 g/min between the two techniques.Conclusions. The novel TD microprobe provides a sensitive, continuous, and real-time assessment of intraparenchymal rCBF in absolute flow values that are in good agreement with sXe-rCBF measurements. This study provides the basis for the integration of TD-rCBF into multimodal monitoring of patients who are at risk for secondary brain injury.


1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andras A. Kemeny ◽  
Jan A. Jakubowski ◽  
Emil Pasztor ◽  
Anthony A. Jefferson ◽  
Richard Wojcikiewicz

✓ The possibility that bromocriptine has a selective effect on blood flow in the adenohypophysis was examined in rats. Twenty-four anesthetized male Wistar rats underwent measurement of blood flow using the hydrogen clearance method. Intravenous injection of 50 µg/kg bromocriptine reduced the blood flow in both the medial and lateral parts of the adenohypophysis to about 70% of the baseline value. Simultaneously measured cerebral cortical and white matter flows were unchanged. Similar results were obtained following administration of a higher dose (500 µg/kg) of bromocriptine. This phenomenon cannot be attributed to the decrease in blood pressure. The course of change in blood flow in the medial and lateral adenohypophysis did not follow that of the mean arterial blood pressure, and the alteration of blood pressure remained within the limits of autoregulation in the adenohypophysis. The results indicate that bromocriptine is capable of reducing blood flow selectively in the pituitary region. This mechanism may contribute to the clinical usefulness of this drug.


1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 780-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Hariri ◽  
Elizabeth L. Supra ◽  
John Paul Roberts ◽  
Michael H. Lavyne

✓ Transient global cerebral ischemia (TGI) was induced in awake rats using the “four-vessel” occlusion model of Pulsinelli and Brierley. Blood pressure, arterial blood gases, cerebral blood flow, and cardiac output were measured during the acute (up to 2 hours) and chronic (2 to 72 hours) postischemic time periods. Coincident with the onset of TGI, cardiac output and caudate blood flow were depressed. The former returned to baseline within 30 minutes after the conclusion of TGI, and the latter progressed to hyperemia at 12 hours (81.8 ± 4.9 vs 68.6 ± 3.9 ml/min/100 gm tissue (mean ± standard error of the mean)) and oligemia at 72 hours (45.5 ± 4.8 ml/min/100 gm tissue) post-TGI in the untreated control rats. Arterial blood gases and blood pressure were unchanged. Naloxone (1 mg/kg) given at the time of TGI or as late as 60 minutes post-TGI and every 2 hours thereafter for 24 hours or bilateral cervical vagotomy prevented the depression in cardiac output and blocked the hyperemic-oligemic cerebral blood flow pattern that was predictive of stroke in this rat model. Changes in cardiac output after TGI in this model appear to be mediated by parasympathetic pathways to the heart from the brain stem. Opiate receptor blockade probably blocks endogenous opioid peptide stimulation of these brain-stem circulatory centers, which results in inhibition of parasympathetic activity and improvement in cardiac output. The usefulness of naloxone in the treatment of experimental stroke may be a function of its ability to improve cerebral perfusion in pressure-passive cerebrovascular territories. Variations in cardiac output during experimental stroke may explain the dissimilar responses to naloxone treatment reported by other investigators of experimental stroke.


1982 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Crockard ◽  
Joon Kang ◽  
Graeme Ladds

✓ An experimental model of focal laceration and contusion in gerbils is described. Associated with this injury are systemic changes which are neurogenically mediated and result in an immediate reduction in blood pressure, bradycardia, and generalized reduction in cerebral blood flow. There is generalized edema, as judged by a decreased specific gravity in the brain, probably related to reduced blood flow; superimposed on this, there is an edema gradient which is maximal close to the injury. This, in turn, affects the local capillary bed and prevents any local increase in flow. A separate group studied over a longer time period (6 hours) did not reveal egress of Evans blue into the surrounding tissue and this is in contrast to reports from cold-injury studies.


1992 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 486-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reizo Shirane ◽  
Philip R. Weinstein

✓ The effects of pretreatment with mannitol on local cerebral blood flow (CBF) after permanent or temporary global cerebral ischemia were evaluated with 14C-iodoantipyrine autoradiography in rats under halothane-N2O endotracheal anesthesia. Blood pressure, pulse rate, arterial blood gas levels, and electroencephalographic (EEG) tracings were monitored throughout the experiments. After permanent occlusion of the basilar artery and both external carotid and pterygopalatine arteries, severe global ischemia was induced by permanent occlusion of the common carotid arteries (CCA's) or by a 30-minute temporary CCA occlusion followed by 5 minutes of reperfusion. Intravenous mannitol (25%, 1 gm/kg) or saline solution was administered 5 minutes before occlusion of the CCA's. Cerebral blood flow was measured in 24 anatomical regions. The EEG tracings flattened within 2 to 3 minutes after the onset of ischemia, and no recovery was observed during reperfusion. In the mannitol-treated rats and the saline-treated controls, autoradiographic studies after permanent occlusion showed no CBF in the forebrain or cerebellum, although brain-stem and spinal cord CBF values were normal. After 5 minutes of reperfusion, CBF in the cortex, basal ganglia, and white matter was 100% to 200% higher in mannitol-treated rats and 50% to 100% higher in saline-injected rats than in the nonischemic anesthetized control group. Heterogeneously distributed areas of no-reflow were seen in all saline-injected rats but were observed in none of the mannitol-treated rats. Pretreatment with mannitol prevented postischemic obstruction of the microcirculation during 5 minutes of recirculation after 30 minutes of severe temporary ischemia, but the EEG signals did not recover. Further studies of the functional and morphological responses to longer periods of postischemic recirculation are needed to verify the extent to which these mannitol-induced effects are protective.


1998 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Nakase ◽  
Kiyoshi Nagata ◽  
Hiroyuki Otsuka ◽  
Toshisuke Sakaki ◽  
Oliver Kempski

Object. Maintenance of cerebral blood flow (CBF) autoregulation in the brain is of major importance for patient outcome in various clinical conditions. The authors assessed local autoregulation after “asymptomatic” cortical vein occlusion. Methods. In Wistar rats, a single cortical vein was occluded photochemically by using rose bengal and fiberoptic illumination. In rats with bilateral carotid artery occlusion, mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) was lowered in 5-mm Hg increments down to 40 mm Hg by using hypobaric hypotension. Local CBF at each pressure level was assessed by performing laser Doppler (LD) scanning at 25 (5 × 5) locations within bilateral cranial windows. In this manner, the lower limit of autoregulation (LLA) was detected. The LLA was 60 mm Hg in both right and left hemispheres in Group A (five rats), in which the animals received illumination without rose bengal and had no venous occlusion. Of the 11 rats that underwent vein occlusion, three developed severe reductions in local CBF and/or a growing venous thrombus and were distinguished as Group C (symptomatic; three rats); from previous work we know that those animals are bound to experience venous infarction. The remaining rats formed Group B (asymptomatic; eight rats). In this group the LLA remained at 60 mm Hg in the left hemisphere without occlusion, whereas, in the right cortex with the occluded vein, the LLA was found to be 65 mm Hg. Below a carotid stump pressure of 25 mm Hg regional CBF in the affected hemisphere dropped more abruptly to a possibly ischemic range than that in the opposite normal hemisphere. Conclusions. The results of the present study suggest that cerebral venous circulation disorders are manifested via additional pathways, that is, from a partially impaired local autoregulation in the vicinity of the occluded vein, even under conditions in which the vein occlusion itself does not cause brain damage. Care should be taken in the control of blood pressure in patients with this pathological condition.


1999 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif Østergaard ◽  
Fred H. Hochberg ◽  
James D. Rabinov ◽  
A. Gregory Sorensen ◽  
Michael Lev ◽  
...  

Object. In this study the authors assessed the early changes in brain tumor physiology associated with glucocorticoid administration. Glucocorticoids have a dramatic effect on symptoms in patients with brain tumors over a time scale ranging from minutes to a few hours. Previous studies have indicated that glucocorticoids may act either by decreasing cerebral blood volume (CBV) or blood-tumor barrier (BTB) permeability and thereby the degree of vasogenic edema.Methods. Using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, the authors examined the acute changes in CBV, cerebral blood flow (CBF), and BTB permeability to gadolinium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid after administration of dexamethasone in six patients with brain tumors. In patients with acute decreases in BTB permeability after dexamethasone administration, changes in the degree of edema were assessed using the apparent diffusion coefficient of water.Conclusions. Dexamethasone was found to cause a dramatic decrease in BTB permeability and regional CBV but no significant changes in CBF or the degree of edema. The authors found that MR imaging provides a powerful tool for investigating the pathophysiological changes associated with the clinical effects of glucocorticoids.


2002 ◽  
Vol 97 (5) ◽  
pp. 1179-1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Basar Atalay ◽  
Hayrunnisa Bolay ◽  
Turgay Dalkara ◽  
Figen Soylemezoglu ◽  
Kamil Oge ◽  
...  

Object. The goal of this study was to investigate whether stimulation of trigeminal afferents in the cornea could enhance cerebral blood flow (CBF) in rats after they have been subjected to experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Cerebral vasospasm following SAH may compromise CBF and increase the risks of morbidity and mortality. Currently, there is no effective treatment for SAH-induced vasospasm. Direct stimulation of the trigeminal nerve has been shown to dilate constricted cerebral arteries after SAH; however, a noninvasive method to activate this nerve would be preferable for human applications. The authors hypothesized that stimulation of free nerve endings of trigeminal sensory fibers in the face might be as effective as direct stimulation of the trigeminal nerve. Methods. Autologous blood obtained from the tail artery was injected into the cisterna magna of 10 rats. Forty-eight and 96 hours later (five rats each) trigeminal afferents were stimulated selectively by applying transcorneal biphasic pulses (1 msec, 3 mA, and 30 Hz), and CBF enhancements were detected using laser Doppler flowmetry in the territory of the middle cerebral artery. Stimulation-induced changes in cerebrovascular parameters were compared with similar parameters in sham-operated controls (six rats). Development of vasospasm was histologically verified in every rat with SAH. Corneal stimulation caused an increase in CBF and blood pressure and a net decrease in cerebrovascular resistance. There were no significant differences between groups for these changes. Conclusions. Data from the present study demonstrate that transcorneal stimulation of trigeminal nerve endings induces vasodilation and a robust increase in CBF. The vasodilatory response of cerebral vessels to trigeminal activation is retained after SAH-induced vasospasm.


1992 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Newell ◽  
Rune Aaslid ◽  
Renate Stooss ◽  
Hans J. Reulen

✓ Intracranial pressure (ICP) and continuous transcranial Doppler ultrasound signals were monitored in 20 head-injured patients and simultaneous synchronous fluctuations of middle cerebral artery (MCA) velocity and B waves of the ICP were observed. Continuous simultaneous monitoring of MCA velocity, ICP, arterial blood pressure, and expired CO2 revealed that both velocity waves and B waves occurred despite a constant CO2 concentration in ventilated patients and were usually not accompanied by fluctuations in the arterial blood pressure. Additional recordings from the extracranial carotid artery during the ICP B waves revealed similar synchronous fluctuations in the velocity of this artery, strongly supporting the hypothesis that blood flow fluctuations produce the velocity waves. The ratio between ICP wave amplitude and velocity wave amplitude was highly correlated to the ICP (r = 0.81, p < 0.001). Velocity waves of similar characteristics and frequency, but usually of shorter duration, were observed in seven of 10 normal subjects in whom MCA velocity was recorded for 1 hour. The findings in this report strongly suggest that B waves in the ICP are a secondary effect of vasomotor waves, producing cerebral blood flow fluctuations that become amplified in the ICP tracing, in states of reduced intracranial compliance.


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