Acute spontaneous volume fluctuation in the brain. A contribution to the interpretation of plateau waves. Results of CSF measurements with ventricular drainage.

Primarily the theoretical background of the relation between the intracranial pressure and the volume is discussed. From the definite relationship between volume and pressure it is deduced that with the appropriate equipment intracranial volume changes may be measured instead of the I.C.P. The exact measurement of the volume of CSF drained in relation to the drainage time enable us to differentiate disturbances of the C.S.F. circulation in patients. Furthermore we were able to correlate "plateau waves" with certain amounts of volume fluctuations; these were shown in amounts of drained C.S.F. between 16 and 32 ml. Some scientific aspects of this new method and possible results are pointed out.