Cerebral blood flow, metabolic rate, and cross-brain oxygen consumption in brain injury.

In six deeply comatose children, the relationships of intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure, cerebral blood flow, cross-brain oxygen consumption, and metabolic rate to outcome were studied sequentially during therapy. Intracranial pressure, cross-brain oxygen consumption, and metabolic rate values were significantly different in the three children who survived compared with those in the three who died. The differences in cross-brain oxygen consumption and metabolic rate occurred in the presence of clinically acceptable values for intracranial and cerebral perfusion pressures. Cross-brain oxygen consumption and metabolic rate may be important indicators of degree of neuronal injury, and of outcome.