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Cerebral vasospasm remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Cerebral ischemia may ensue when autoregulation fails to compensate for spasm. We examined how autoregulation is affected by vasospasm by using transcranial Doppler. The moving correlation coefficient between slow changes of arterial blood pressure and mean or systolic flow velocity (FV), termed "Mx" and "Sx," respectively, was used to characterize cerebral autoregulation. Vasospasm was declared when the mean FV increased to more than 120 cm/s and the Lindegaard ratio was more than 3. This occurred in 15 of 32 SAH patients. On the basis of the bilateral transcranial Doppler recordings of the middle cerebral artery in vasospastic patients, Mx and Sx were calculated for baseline and vasospasm. Mx increased during vasospasm (0.46 ± 0.32; mean ± SD) and was significantly higher (P = 0.021) than at baseline (0.21 ± 0.24). Sx was also increased (0.22 ± 0.26 vs 0.05 ± 0.21 at baseline; P = 0.03). Mx correlated with mean FV (r = 0.577; P = 0.025) and the Lindegaard ratio (r = 0.672; P < 0.006). Mx (P = 0.006) and Sx (P = 0.044) were higher on the vasospastic side (Mx, 0.44 ± 0.27; Sx, 0.24 ± 0.23) when compared with the contralateral side (Mx, 0.34 ± 0.29; Sx, 0.16 ± 0.25). The increased Mx and Sx during cerebral vasospasm demonstrate impaired cerebral autoregulation. Mx and Sx provide additional information on changes in autoregulation in SAH patients. IMPLICATIONS: The moving correlation coefficients between slow changes of arterial blood pressure and mean or systolic flow velocity, termed "Mx" and "Sx," respectively, characterize cerebral autoregulation but have not been applied to subarachnoid hemorrhage. A study in 15 patients revealed that Mx and Sx were significantly increased, indicating impaired autoregulation during vasospasm as compared with baseline, as well as on the side of vasospasm in comparison with the contralateral side.
Cerebral autoregulation refers to the intrinsic capacity of the brain to maintain constant cerebral blood flow (CBF) despite changes in perfusion pressure (1,2). After subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), when cerebral autoregulation is frequently impaired (35), reductions in perfusion may contribute to delayed ischemic deficits (DID). Indeed, impaired cerebral autoregulation itself is a predictor of DID (58). Cerebral vasospasm is often seen after SAH and is associated with DID (9,10). Initial studies suggest that patients with initially preserved autoregulation may be at less risk or even no risk of subsequently developing DID as compared with patients with an initial autoregulation disturbance (11,12), but evaluation with a large number of patients is desirable. When vasospasm joins preexisting autoregulation impairment, the risk of DID increases (11). To identify patients at risk for DID, vasospasm and impaired autoregulation should be recognized early. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography is a suitable technique for assessing vasospasm of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) (10,1315) and impaired autoregulation by using methods such as the cuff deflation test (16) or the transient hyperemic response test (17). Autoregulation tests are often performed by manipulating arterial blood pressure (ABP) by using external stimuli and observing the related changes in CBF or blood flow velocity. A less invasive method based on spontaneous changes in ABP has been introduced (18). The indices of autoregulation are calculated as moving correlation coefficients between spontaneous slow changes in ABP and slow changes in systolic (systolic index; Sx) or mean (mean index; Mx) flow velocities (FV). Sx and Mx have been shown to be indicators of autoregulation (19) and predictors for outcome in head injury (18). However, Sx and Mx have not yet been applied to SAH patients. Mx can be interpreted as an indicator of autoregulation: a positive correlation between ABP and FV, as expressed by positive values of Mx, indicates passive dependence of blood flow on ABP (impaired autoregulation). Negative or zero values suggest active cerebrovascular responses to changes in ABP (preserved autoregulation). This preliminary study describes the first application of autoregulation assessment by means of Mx and Sx determination in patients with SAH and explores the effects of cerebral vasospasm on these indices.
The study was performed according to the requirements of the local ethics committee. The data was recorded using standard neurointensive care monitoring and analyzed as a part of clinical audit. Thirty-two patients (mean age, 50 yr) admitted to Addenbrookes Hospital with aneurysmal SAH were studied. Diagnosis of SAH was confirmed by computed tomography, and aneurysms were identified from cerebral angiography. Bilateral TCD examinations of the MCAs and extracranial internal carotid arteries were performed on alternate days, starting from admission until approximately 2 wk after the hemorrhage or until any detected vasospasm had resolved. Patients were considered to have cerebral vasospasm if the mean MCA FV exceeded 120 cm/s (15) and the Lindegaard ratio exceeded 3.0, according to established TCD criteria (13). All patients received treatment according to a standard protocol (20,21) that included the routine use of nimodipine and surgery for aneurysm clipping, except for two cases, in which coiling was performed. Patients who satisfied TCD criteria for vasospasm were treated by standard triple-H therapy (22). ABP was measured invasively from the radial artery. A TCD (Neurogard, 2 MHz; Medasonics, Fremont, CA) was used for bitemporal insonation of the MCA at a depth of 50 mm. The TCD probes were fixed to a headband. The power of the TCD signal and the amplifier gain settings were adjusted to achieve a reasonable signal with the lowest possible power. Once settings were determined during the first examination in each patient, they were adopted for subsequent examinations. All examinations were performed by the same examiner (MS). ABP and bilateral FV recordings were acquired simultaneously and continuously over a 20-min epoch for alternate days. Care was taken to monitor during periods of stable respiratory conditions that were free from clinical maneuvers. After the recordings, arterial blood gas samples were drawn from the radial artery line and analyzed. The analog signals from the ABP monitor and TCD device were digitized with a DT 2814 analog-to-digital converter (Data Translation, Marlboro, MA) and sampled at a frequency of 50 Hz by using a laptop computer (ALT 386 SX; Amstrad, Rheinland, Germany). Software was written especially for the recording of time series (WREC; W. Zabolotny, Warsaw University of Technology), and this allowed data to be stored for later offline analysis. Cerebral autoregulation was assessed by calculating the Mx as follows: values of ABP and FV were averaged over 5-s intervals to minimize the effect of pulse and respiratory waves. Two examples of such 5-s-averaged ABP data (n = 60 samples; ABP1, ABP2, ... ABP60) and FV (n = 60 samples; FV1, FV2, ... FV60) are shown in the upper part of Figure 1. Subsequently, Pearsons correlation coefficient r1...60 was calculated among those 60 consecutive time-averaged samples of ABP1...60 and FV1...60 by using software developed in house (ICMR; M. Czosnyka). Two examples of such correlations between FV and ABP obtained from patients with preserved and impaired autoregulation are demonstrated in the lower part of Figure 1. Then Pearson correlation coefficient r was calculated again after shifting the time frame by 5 s, e.g., correlating ABP2??...61 with FV2...61, yielding r2...61. By further shifting the time frame, the correlation coefficients r3...62, r4...63, r5...64 ... r179...238, and r180...239 were calculated. Finally, the Mx (18) was obtained as the mean average of those correlation coefficients r1...60, r2...61, r3...62 ... r179...238, and r180...239. Calculation of the Sx was performed in the same way as for Mx, with the exception that systolic FV instead of mean FV was used for correlation with ABP.
Two datasets describe 18 patients who developed TCD-detected vasospasm: indices of cerebral autoregulation were compared during periods of no vasospasm and vasospasm in each patient and between the side of vasospasm and the contralateral side in each patient. Patient age, patient sex, and severity of SAH as expressed with the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons grading (23) are shown in Table 1; 13 patients underwent open surgery, and 2 patients were treated by coiling. Three patients were excluded from the first dataset because they showed vasospasm throughout the entire examination period, and there was no opportunity to derive indices during a nonvasospastic period. Whenever achievable, Mx and Sx data obtained before vasospasm were referred to as baseline, and this was the case in 11 of 15 patients. The remaining 4 patients showed vasospasm during the first examination; therefore, values measured after the resolution of vasospasm were considered as baseline. In the group in which the side of vasospasm was compared with the contralateral nonvasospastic side, 3 patients were excluded in whom vasospasm occurred bilaterally.
With a duration of several days for both the baseline and vasospastic periods, several examinations, and, hence, Mx and Sx values, were obtained within both periods. For statistical analysis, data assessed within the same period were averaged in each patient, resulting in an averaged Mx and Sx value during the baseline and vasospastic periods. The same applied for ipsilateral versus contralateral comparisons, for which all Mx and Sx values obtained during vasospasm were averaged among the same side in a given patient. Thus, 22 and 28 datasets were pooled in the 15 patients of the groups in which baseline and vasospasm were compared, respectively. For comparison of the ipsilateral versus contralateral side of vasospasm, 28 datasets were pooled in 15 patients. A paired Students t-test was performed after values were evaluated for normal distribution. Statistical significance was assumed at P < 0.05. Whenever applicable, data are shown as mean ± SD.
In the 15 patients who developed vasospasm, no difference was found in arterial blood gases between periods assessed at baseline and during vasospasm. In addition, arterial PCO2 was stable within patients during examination, excluding confounding effects of respiration on cerebrovascular resistance. However, the mean ABP was higher (P = 0.007) during vasospasm (100 ± 12.6 mm Hg) than at baseline (93.4 ± 14.5 mm Hg; Table 2). This difference may, in part, be a consequence of ABP support therapy.
The Mx was increased (P = 0.021) during vasospasm (0.46 ± 0.32; n = 15) when compared with baseline conditions (0.21 ± 0.24; Table 2 and Fig. 2a). Two-way analysis of variance revealed that the observed difference in Mx was not due to the difference in mean ABP (P = 0.369). During vasospasm, Mx correlated with mean FV (r = 0.577; P = 0.025) and the Lindegaard ratio (r = 0.672; P = 0.006). Thus, for higher values of FV (and, hence, more cerebral vasospasm), there was a correspondingly more pronounced impairment in cerebral autoregulation.
The Sx was also higher (P = 0.03) during vasospasm (0.22 ± 0.26; n = 15) when compared with baseline values (0.05 ± 0.21; Table 2 and Fig. 2b). Two-way analysis of variance indicated that this difference was due to vasospasm (P = 0.046) and not to the observed difference in mean ABP (P = 0.445). Mx correlated (P < 0.001) with Sx during baseline (r = 0.89) and vasospasm (r = 0.82). Mx was higher (P = 0.006) on the side of vasospasm (0.44 ± 0.27; n = 15) than on the contralateral side (0.34 ± 0.29; Table 2 and Fig. 3a). Likewise, Sx on the side of vasospasm (0.24 ± 0.23; n = 15) was also increased (P = 0.044) as compared with the contralateral side (0.16 ± 0.25; Table 2 and Fig. 3b). There was a correlation (P < 0.001) between Mx and Sx on the side of vasospasm (r = 0.76) and on the contralateral side (r = 0.82).
Autoregulation assessment based on TCD methods has the major advantage of being continuous, inexpensive, and noninvasive. Calculations are based on the response of FV to slow and spontaneous changes in ABP and remove the need to manipulate ABP. Our technique to obtain Mx and Sx could be easily applied by other investigators. The technique requires daily TCD and ABP recordings plus the calculation of statistic variables, such as the mean average and Pearsons correlation coefficient, which are described in detail elsewhere (24). The calculation of Pearsons correlation coefficient itself demands less complicated computation than other methods that depend on fast Fourier transformation, such as the phase relationship analysis (25,26), the cross-correlation analysis (27), or the transfer function analysis (28). It also does not require a specific respiration regimen (25,26). We assessed MCA vasospasm derived from TCD (29), a noninvasive technique with an excellent specificity (99%) and a high positive predictive value (97%) combined with a sensitivity of 67% and a negative predictive value of 78%, as revealed by a meta-analysis of 26 studies that compared TCD with cerebral angiography (15). A considerable number of our patients had a dense SAH and often remained unconscious during the first days or weeks after the insult. Hence, we did not rely on the occurrence of DIDs for vasospasm assessment, because it would have been unrecognized in a considerable number of cases. For assessment of cerebral autoregulation, we adopted a TCD-derived technique that calculates the indices Mx and Sx. In both, the assessment of vasospasm and autoregulation are based on the same TCD recordings. We may have been monitoring an inherent mathematical effect of accelerated FV. If this were the case, Mx and Sx would have remained unchanged while FV increased during vasospasm, because their calculation is independent of the absolute values of FV. Mx and Sx characterize cerebral autoregulation, whereas FV itself provides information on the degree of vasospasm. Therefore, both techniques supplement but do not replace each other. In addition, differences that are of clinical relevance in the time course of both properties can be monitored. Using a distinct method of autoregulation assessment, Lam et al. (11) reported a difference in the incidence of DIDs depending on whether autoregulation impairment preceded or followed vasospasm. Both Mx and Sx have been evaluated in healthy volunteers, in head injury (18,19,3034), and in carotid artery occlusive disease (CAOD) (35). In Table 3, Mx and Sx values obtained in different studies and pathologies are summarized. Even though somewhat similar values were observed in different diseases, they should not be overvalued, because comparison is limited by the differences in the underlying pathophysiology. In healthy volunteers, an Mx of 0.21 (19) or 0.18 (36) and an Sx of -0.07 (19) were obtained; these are similar to the baseline values (Mx, 0.21; Sx, 0.05) assessed in our study. In head injury, an Mx value of 0.50 was measured during episodes of intracranial hypertension (37), and a value of 0.43 was measured in impaired autoregulation (33), which is held in contrast to an Mx of 0.46 during vasospasm in our investigation. Reinhard et al. (35) evaluated patients with CAOD and reported an Mx of 0.51 on the side of (90%99%) carotid stenosis, compared with 0.44 on the side of vasospasm in our study. On the contralateral side, Mx was assessed as 0.30 in CAOD and 0.34 in our investigation. In our study, the Mx was approximately 0.2 higher than the Sx, which is comparable to the difference of 0.28 reported by Piechnik et al. (19).
In head injury, the indices correlate with the transient hyperemic response test (38) and are prognostic for outcome (18). Furthermore, a good correlation between the rate of regulation as assessed by the cuff deflation test (16) and both Mx and Sx has been reported (19), supporting the hypothesis that Mx and Sx are measures of cerebral autoregulation. Theoretically, both Mx and Sx describe the same phenomenon and hence correlate well with each other, even though Mx exhibits higher values than Sx. Piechnik et al. (19) reported a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.89 and an Mx - Sx difference of 0.28, which is consistent with our data. However, Mx and Sx diverge when mean and systolic FV exhibit different behavior (39,40); this occurs particularly in situations of increased intracranial pressure (39,41) or decreased ABP (42). We calculated both Mx and Sx, because in SAH it is unknown which index is superior in terms of predictive power. In comparison to other tests of cerebral autoregulation, such as the cuff deflation test (16) or the transient hyperemic response test (17), Mx and Sx assessment is less invasive because no artifical changes in ABP or carotid artery compression, respectively, are required. Furthermore, Mx and Sx provide continuous information on the status of autoregulation. However, with a minimal time for evaluation of approximately 20 minutes, calculation of Mx and Sx is more time consuming than cuff deflation or the hyperemic response test. Mx and Sx have been evaluated under conditions in which significant changes in the diameter of the insonated vessels do not or rarely occur (e.g., in healthy volunteers and in head-injured patients). During vasospasm (characterized as narrowing of the major cerebral arteries), we found both Mx and Sx to be significantly increased as compared with baseline, which is an indication of impaired autoregulation. Impairment of autoregulation and cerebral vasospasm is anatomically distinct, because cerebral autoregulation occurs at the level of the arterioles (43,44) more distal to arteries affected by vasospasm as determined by TCD recordings. The higher the degree of TCD cerebral vasospasm, the more pronounced the impairment of autoregulation determined from the correlation among Mx, FV, and the Lindegaard ratio. This is in keeping with the observations of Voldby et al. (4), who described a close correlation between the degree of vasospasm assessed from angiography and the degree of autoregulatory impairment measured by CBF changes in arterial hypotension. This is a preliminary study showing that autoregulation assessment by means of Mx and Sx calculation is applicable in SAH, a pathologyunlike previously studied onesassociated with diameter changes of the insonated vessels. Studies on the predictive value of Mx and Sx on outcome require more patients. The described technique may offer a tool to investigate the effect of triple-H therapy or of specific drugs on cerebral autoregulation and may guide the therapy of cerebral vasospasm. However, further evidence needs to be gathered before recommendations can be given regarding the therapy of vasospasm based on Mx and Sx assessment. In conclusion, we observed significantly increased Mx and Sx values duringand on the side ofvasospasm and have attributed these to impairment of cerebral autoregulation and not to vasospasm alone. The higher the FV, the more impaired the cerebral autoregulation. Mx and Sx assessment supplements the sole determination of FV in SAH patients. It is a noninvasive and continuous method that provides information on autoregulation impairment, although it requires confirmation by further prospective studies in patients with SAH.
Supported by Technology Foresight Challenge Award FCA234/95; G4200005 and Medical Research Council Programme Grant G9439390 (JDP). The excellent secretarial assistance of Susan Hatley and Meryl Madakbas is gratefully acknowledged. Marek Czosnyka is on unpaid leave from Warsaw University of Technology, Poland.
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