False autoregulation (pseudoautoregulation) in patients with severe head injury. Its importance in CPP management

False autoregulation has been described as an alteration of autoregulation in which the apparent maintenance of a constant cerebral blood flow (CBF) when increasing cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) is due to an increase in brain tissue pressure. The objective of our study was to investigate how often false autoregulation occurred in patients with a severe head injury. In forty-six patients with a moderate or severe head injury autoregulation was studied using arteriojugular differences of oxygen (AVDO2) to estimate changes in CBF after inducing arterial hypertension with phenylephrine. Changes in mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) and AVDO2 were calculated before and after inducing hypertension. Ninety-five episodes of provoked hypertension were studied in 46 patients. In 28 tests (29.5%) a constant or even reduced CBF was detected simultaneously with a median increase in parenchymal ICP of 8.5 mm Hg (false autoregulation). In this group the median of the induced increase in MABP was 20.6 mm Hg with a median increase in CPP of 11.5 mm Hg. From our data we can conclude that false autoregulation is frequently found in patients after a severe head injury. Increasing MABP to obtain a better CPP in these patients is not beneficial because CBF is not modified or may even be reduced.