[Systemic blood pressure and respiration during plateau wave phenomena]

The intracranial pressure, systemic blood pressure, respiratory pattern and heart rate were studied polygraphically in five patients with plateau waves in continuous intracranial pressure recording. Three brain-tumor patients and two benign intracranial hypertension patients were included. The intracranial pressure was recorded through an indwelling ventricular catheter attached to a pressure transducer. The systemic blood pressure was recorded through an intraarterial catheter placed in the femoral artery. The recordings were made from 18 to 40 hours and a total of 770 plateau waves were examined in this study. The systemic blood pressure showed little or no change in spite of a marked rise in intracranial pressure. The respiratory alterations were always noted during the plateau waves. This respiratory changes during the plateau waves were assigned into three patterns. The first was the suppressed respiratory pattern during the entire course of the plateau waves (Type I): the second was the pattern characterized by the initial suppression followed by the late hyperventilation (Type II); and the third was the hyperventilation pattern during the entire course of the plateau waves (Type III). The pattern of Type I was noticed in 65% of the observed plateau waves, the pattern of Type II in 23%, and the pattern of Type III in 12%. The heart rate decreased in most plateau waves, but there was little change in the heart rate in some plateau waves.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)