Autoregulation of cerebral blood flow in hypertensive patients. The modifying influence of prolonged antihypertensive treatment on the tolerance to acute, drug-induced hypotension.

Autoregulation of cerebral blood flow (CBF) was studied by the arteriovenous oxygen difference method in 13 patients with untreated or ineffectively treated severe hypertension, nine patients with effectively treated, formerly severe hypertension, and ten normotensive controls. Resting mean blood pressure in these three groups was 145 +/- 17 (1 SD) mm Hg, 116 +/- 18 mm Hg, and 98 +/- 10 mm Hg, respectively. Blood pressure was decreased by trimethaphan infusion combined with head-up tilt. The lower limit of CBF autoregulation in the three groups was 113 +/- 17 mm Hg, 96 +/- 17 mm Hg, and 73 +/- 9 mm Hg, and the lowest tolerated blood pressure where mild symptoms of brain hypoperfusion were encountered was 65 +/- 10 mm Hg, 53 +/- 18 mm Hg, and 43 +/- 8 mm Hg. These pressures were all significantly higher (P less than 0.01) in the group of untreated or ineffectively treated hypertensive patients than in the normotensive group demonstrating a shift of CBF autoregulation in the former. The observations in effectively treated hypertensive patients strongly suggested a readaptation of CBF autoregulation toward normal in some cases. In four hypertensive patients studied twice it was found that 8-12 months of antihypertensive treatment on average did not influence the lower limit of CBF autoregulation.