Published in:
01-12-2004 | Original
Sustained moderate reductions in arterial CO2 after brain trauma Time-course of cerebral blood flow velocity and intracranial pressure
Published in: Intensive Care Medicine | Issue 12/2004
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Objective
In healthy volunteers cerebral blood flow starts to recover towards baseline within a few minutes of continued hyperventilation due to normalisation of perivascular pH. We investigated the time-course of changes in middle cerebral artery mean flow velocity (FVm) and intracranial pressure (ICP) in head-injured patients during sustained moderate reductions in arterial partial pressure of CO2 (PaCO2).
Design
Observational study.
Patients
Twenty-seven sedated, mechanically ventilated patients with severe head injury.
Interventions
Measurements were made during and after routine determination of CO2-reactivity: an acute 20% increase in respiratory minute volume was followed by a 10-min stabilisation period and 50 min of continued moderate hyperventilation at a constant PaCO2 (>3.5 kPa).
Measurements and results
FVm was monitored with transcranial Doppler, ICP was monitored with intraparenchymal probes. During the 50-min period with stable PaCO2 FVm increased in 36% of patients. All other patients showed a decline in FVm over the same time period. Overall FVm recovery was −0.03±0.14%·min-1. The time-course of ICP changes was significantly different from that of FVm, with ICP reaching its lowest value earlier than FVm (23±12 vs 37±20 min; P = 0.001) and returning more rapidly towards baseline than FVm (0.23±0.23 vs −0.03±0.14%·min-1; P< 0.0001).
Conclusions
Head-injured patients may adapt differently to hyperventilation than healthy volunteers. Potentially harmful reductions in cerebral blood flow may persist beyond the duration of useful ICP reduction.