Effect of hypercarbia and hypertension on spinal cord tissue oxygen in experimental cervical myelopathy

Tissue oxygen tension of the cervical cord was measured by the polarographic technique described in the preceding paper on dogs whose cervical cords had sustained combined compression and ischemia. Both hypercarbia and systemic hypertension elevated the tissue oxygen of the cord effectively even at the compressed and ischemic segments, and their effects were additive. Clinical applicability of combined hypercarbia and hypertension to the treatment of ischemia of the human cord was suggested.