Cerebral artery dilatation maintains cerebral oxygenation at extreme altitude and in acute hypoxia-an ultrasound and MRI study

Transcranial Doppler is a widely used noninvasive technique for assessing cerebral artery blood flow. All previous high altitude studies assessing cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the field that have used Doppler to measure arterial blood velocity have assumed vessel diameter to not alter. Here, we repo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism 2011-10, Vol.31 (10), p.2019-2029
Main Authors: Wilson, Mark H, Edsell, Mark EG, Davagnanam, Indran, Hirani, Shashivadan P, Martin, Dan S, Levett, Denny ZH, Thornton, John S, Golay, Xavier, Strycharczuk, Lisa, Newman, Stanton P, Montgomery, Hugh E, Grocott, Mike PW, Imray, Christopher HE
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
Adult
Altitude Sickness - diagnostic imaging
Altitude Sickness - physiopathology
Biological and medical sciences
Blood Flow Velocity
Cerebral circulation. Blood-brain barrier. Choroid plexus. Cerebrospinal fluid. Circumventricular organ. Meninges
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Hypoxia - diagnostic imaging
Hypoxia - physiopathology
Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Middle Cerebral Artery - diagnostic imaging
Middle Cerebral Artery - physiopathology
Neurology
Original
Oxygen Consumption
Partial Pressure
Radiography
Ultrasonography
Vascular diseases and vascular malformations of the nervous system
Vasodilation
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Young Adult
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Summary:Transcranial Doppler is a widely used noninvasive technique for assessing cerebral artery blood flow. All previous high altitude studies assessing cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the field that have used Doppler to measure arterial blood velocity have assumed vessel diameter to not alter. Here, we report two studies that demonstrate this is not the case. First, we report the highest recorded study of CBF (7,950 m on Everest) and demonstrate that above 5,300 m, middle cerebral artery (MCA) diameter increases (n = 24 at 5,300 m, 14 at 6,400 m, and 5 at 7,950 m). Mean MCA diameter at sea level was 5.30 mm, at 5,300 m was 5.23 mm, at 6,400 m was 6.66 mm, and at 7,950 m was 9.34 mm (P
ISSN:0271-678X
1559-7016
DOI:10.1038/jcbfm.2011.81