RELATIONSHIP OF ARTERIAL BLOOD PRESSURE TO CEREBROSPINAL FLUID PRESSURE IN MAN

Abstract

The relationship of arterial blood pressure to cerebrospinal fluid pressure has been discussed in an article published by Fremont-Smith and Kubie.¹ It was pointed out that the cerebrospinal fluid pressure was practically unaffected by variations in the arterial pressure, and that the arterial pressure was unaffected by an increase in the intracranial pressure unless the latter approached the level of the diastolic blood pressure. These conclusions were based almost wholly on experiments with animals, especially those of Becht,² Cushing³ and Eyster, Burrows and Essick,⁴ and have been confirmed by Wolff and Forbes.⁵ Shelburne, Blain and O'Hare,⁶ in a recent article, reviewed the scant clinical literature on this subject and reported the cerebrospinal fluid pressure in 50 cases of vascular hypertension. Their results will be discussed later. There has been no clinical study of a large series of cases in which the cerebrospinal fluid pressure