Article Text
Abstract
Objectives: Hypertension and chronic cerebrovascular disease are known to alter static cerebral autoregulation (CA) but the effects of acute stroke on dynamic CA (dCA) have not been studied in detail. Those studies to date measuring dCA have used sympathetically induced blood pressure (BP) changes, which may themselves directly affect dCA. This study assessed whether dCA is compromised after acute stroke using spontaneous blood pressure (BP) changes as the stimulus for the dCA response.
Methods: 56 patients with ischaemic stroke (aged 70 (SD 9) years), studied within 72 hours of ictus were compared with 56 age, sex, and BP matched normal controls. Cerebral blood flow velocity was measured using transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) with non-invasive beat to beat arterial BP levels, surface ECG, and transcutaneous CO2 levels and a dynamic autoregulatory index (dARI) calculated.
Results: Beat to beat BP, but not pulse interval variability was significantly increased and cardiac baroreceptor sensitivity (BRS) decreased in the patients with stroke. Dynamic CA was significantly reduced in patients with stroke compared with controls (strokes: ARI 3.8 (SD 2.2) and 3.2 (SD 2.0) for pressor and depressor stimuli respectively v controls: ARI 4.7 (SD 2.2) and 4.5 (SD 2.0) respectively (p<0.05 in all cases)). There was no difference between stroke and non-stroke hemispheres in ARI, which was also independent of severity of stroke, BP, BP variability, BRS, sex, and age.
Conclusion: Dynamic cerebral autoregulation, as assessed using spontaneous transient pressor and depressor BP stimuli, is globally impaired after acute ischaemic stroke and may prove to be an important factor in predicting outcome.
- stroke
- blood pressure
- CA, cerebral autoregulation
- CBF, constant cerebral blood flow
- BP, blood pressure
- TCD, transcranial Doppler ultrasound
- CBFV, cerebral blood flow velocity
- MAP, mean arterial pressure
- dCA, dynamic CA
- BPV, BP variability
- BRS, baroreceptor sensitivity
- OCSP, Oxford Community Stroke Project
- MCA, middle cerebral artery
- dARI, dynamic autoregulatory index
- PI, pulse interval
- TACI, total anterior circulation infarct
- PACI, partial anterior circulation infarct
- LACI, lacunar infarct
- POCI, posterior circulation infarct
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- CA, cerebral autoregulation
- CBF, constant cerebral blood flow
- BP, blood pressure
- TCD, transcranial Doppler ultrasound
- CBFV, cerebral blood flow velocity
- MAP, mean arterial pressure
- dCA, dynamic CA
- BPV, BP variability
- BRS, baroreceptor sensitivity
- OCSP, Oxford Community Stroke Project
- MCA, middle cerebral artery
- dARI, dynamic autoregulatory index
- PI, pulse interval
- TACI, total anterior circulation infarct
- PACI, partial anterior circulation infarct
- LACI, lacunar infarct
- POCI, posterior circulation infarct