[Prediction of human orthostatic tolerance by changes in arterial and venous hemodynamics in the microgravity...

The authors intentionally present exclusively the results of their recent studies of arterial and venous hemodynamics as predictors of human orthostatic tolerance (OT) during space flight and on return to Earth. There is a sufficient demonstration of the in-flight OT predictability by arterial hemodynamic reactions to LBNP and venous hemodynamic changes in response to the lower extremities occlusion. Three levels of cerebral blood flow deficits in the course of the lower body negative pressure test (LBNP) performed in microgravity were first defined. The authors offer quantitative arguments for the dependence of cerebral flow deficit on the degree of LBNP tolerance degradation. Patterns of arterial hemodynamics during LBNP were used successfully to diagnose the actual orthostatic tolerance and also to follow its trend as flight extended, which attests to the predictability of OT change in an individual cosmonaut on space flight. Occlusion plethysmography of legs revealed three levels of response of the most informative venous parameters (capacity, distensibility and rate of filling) correlating with severity of OT degradation.