Xenon 133--CBF measurements in severe head injury and subarachnoid haemorrhage.

The possibility of measuring cerebral blood flow by mobile bedside units with the intravenous 133-Xenon technique increased the interest to monitor haemodynamic changes after head injury and subarachnoid haemorrhage in intensive care. Time course of resting CBF after trauma is variable (reduced CBF, hyperemia) and there is no strong correlation to clinical outcome. Additional studies of CBF/CO2 reactivity show normal and impaired CO2 response in the acute stage after trauma (day 1-8). A permanently impaired CO2 reactivity correlates with severe brain damage and bad outcome (GOS 1,2). A normal or improving CO2 reactivity indicates a favourable outcome (GOS 3-5). There was no significant correlation between CBF and ICP, nor between CBF and CPP. A CPP of more than 70 mmHg did not guarantee a sufficient CBF in every case indicating the variability of the limits of autoregulation. As therapeutic hyperventilation may lead to ischemia, mannitol was preferred to reduce ICP and increased low CBF to normal values. This fact should be considered in the treatment of patients with low CBF and normal CO2 reactivity. Delayed ischemic neurological deficits ("vasospasm") are well-known as significant complications of the clinical course following SAH. Immediately postoperatively performed CBF measurements enable to detect ischemia and allow to start early antiischemic therapy. During "vasospasm" CBF showed a better correlation to the neurological status than blood flow velocity in the basal arteries measured by transcranial doppler sonography. Furthermore hyperemia after SAH could only be verified by CBF measurements.