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In neurocritical care, the gold standard method is intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring for the patient's lifesaving. Since it is an invasive method, it is desirable to use an alternative, noninvasive technique. The computerized real-time invasive cerebral blood flow (CBF) autoregulation (AR) monitoring calculates the status of CBF AR, called the pressure reactivity index (PRx). Studies documented that the electrical impedance of the head (Rheoencephalography – REG) can detect the status of CBF AR (REGx) and ICP noninvasively. We aimed to test REG to reflect ICP and CBF AR.

The significant drop in estrogen levels during menopause increases the cardiovascular risks, one of which is cerebrovascular atherosclerosis. Research on rheoencephalography (REG) parameters for the early diagnosis of cerebrovascular atherosclerotic lesions is of great interest to scientists because of its ease of implementation, low cost, and non-invasiveness. The objectives of study are to evaluate the vascular tone, cerebral circulation flow in each hemisphere of the brain of menopausal women, and some associated factors through waveform characteristics and parameters in REG. A controlled cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on a group of patients including 80 menopausal women and a control group of 46 menstruating women. All patients were measured REG in the frontal-occipital leads by VasoScreen 5000 impedance REG meter. In menopausal women, the percentage of sharp waves, the percentage of clear side waves, and the average REG were all lower than in the control group (p

Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) is a respiratory/ventilation procedure that is used to maintain or improve breathing in clinical and experimental cases that exhibit impaired lung function. Body fluid shift movement is not monitored during PEEP application in intensive care units (ICU), which would be interesting specifically in hypotensive patients. Brain injured and hypotensive patients are known to have compromised cerebral blood flow (CBF) autoregulation (AR) but currently, there is no non-invasive way to assess the risk of implementing a hypotensive resuscitation strategy and PEEP use in these patients.

This paper describes a new combined impedance plethysmographic (IPG) and electrical bioimpedance spectroscopic (BIS) instrument and software that will allow noninvasive real-time measurement of segmental blood flow, intracellular, interstitial, and intravascular volume changes during various fluid management procedures. The impedance device can be operated either as a fixed frequency IPG for the quantification of segmental blood flow and hemodynamics or as a multi-frequency BIS for the recording of intracellular and extracellular resistances at 40 discrete input frequencies. The extracellular volume is then deconvoluted to obtain its intravascular and interstitial component volumes as functions of elapsed time. The purpose of this paper is to describe this instrumentation and to demonstrate the information that can be obtained by using it to monitor segmental compartment volume responses of a pig model during simulated hemorrhage and resuscitation. Such information may prove valuable in the diagnosis and management of rapid changes in the body fluid balance and various clinical treatments.

Neuromonitoring is performed to prevent further (secondary) brain damage by detecting low brain blood flow following a head injury, stroke or neurosurgery. This comparative neuromonitoring study is part of an ongoing investigation of brain bioimpedance (rheoencephalography-REG) as a measuring modality for use in both civilian and military medical settings, such as patient transport, emergency care and neurosurgery intensive care. In a previous animal study, we validated that REG detects cerebral blood flow autoregulation (CBF AR), the body’s physiological mechanism that protects the brain from adverse effects of low brain blood flow (hypoxia/ischemia). In the current descriptive pig study, the primary goal was to compare measurements of CBF AR made with REG to measurements made with other neuromonitoring modalities: laser Doppler flow (LDF); intracranial pressure (ICP); absolute CBF; carotid flow (CF); and systemic arterial pressure (SAP). Challenges administered to anesthetized pigs were severe induced hemorrhage (bleeding) and resuscitation; CO2 inhalation; and positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP). Data were stored on a computer and processed offline. After hemorrhage, the loss of CBF AR was detected by REG, ICP, and CF, all of which passively followed systemic arterial SAP after bleeding. Loss of CBF AR was the earliest indicator of low brain blood flow: loss of CBF AR occurred before a decrease in cardiac output, which is the cardiovascular response to hemorrhage. A secondary goal of this study was to validate the usefulness of new automated data processing software developed to detect the status of CBF AR. Both the new automated software and the traditional (observational) evaluation indicated the status of CBF AR. REG indicates the earliest breakdown of CBF AR; cessation of EEG for 2 seconds and respiration would be used as additional indicators of loss of CBF AR. The clinical significance of this animal study is that REG shows potential for use as a noninvasive, continuous and non-operator dependent neuromonitor of CBF AR in both civilian and military medical settings. Human validation studies of neuromonitoring with REG are currently in progress.

In neurosurgery intensive care units, cerebrovascular reactivity tests for neuromonitoring are used to evaluate the status of cerebral blood flow autoregulation; lack of autoregulation indicates a poor patient outcome. The goal of neuromonitoring is to prevent secondary injuries following a primary central nervous system injury, when the brain is vulnerable to further compromise due to hypoxia, ischemia and disturbances in cerebral blood flow and intracranial pressure. Ideally, neuromonitoring would be noninvasive and continuous. This study compares cerebrovascular reactivity monitored by rheoencephalography, a noninvasive continuous monitoring modality, to cerebrovascular reactivity measured by currently used neuromonitoring modalities: transcranial Doppler, near infrared spectroscopy and laser Doppler flowmetry. Fourteen healthy volunteer subjects were measured. The tests used for comparison of cerebrovascular reactivity were breath-holding, hyperventilation, CO2 inhalation, the Valsalva maneuver, and the Trendelenburg and reverse Trendelenburg positions. Data for all modalities measured were recorded by computers and processed off line. All measured modalities reflected cerebrovascular reactivity with variabilities. Breath-holding, CO2 inhalation, and the Valsalva maneuver caused CO2 increase and consequent brain vasodilatation; hyperventilation caused CO2 decrease and brain vasoconstriction. The Trendelenburg and reverse Trendelenburg positions caused extracranial blood volume changes, which masked intracranial cerebrovascular reactivity. The hyperventilation test proved ineffective for measuring cerebrovascular reactivity with rheoencephalography due to respiratory artifacts. Some discrepancies among the

Measuring brain electrical impedance (rheoencephalography) is a potential technique for noninvasive, continuous neuro-monitoring of cerebral blood flow autoregulation in humans. In the present rat study, we compared changes in cerebral blood flow autoregulation during CO2 inhalation measured by rheoencephalography to changes measured by laser Doppler flowmetry, an invasive continuous monitoring modality. Our hypothesis was that both modalities would reflect cerebral blood flow autoregulation.

This article presents an overview of rheoencephalography (REG) – electrical impedance measurements of the brain – and summarizes past and ongoing research to develop medical applications of REG for neuro-critical care and for primary prevention of stroke and cardiovascular disease. The availability of advanced electronics and computation has opened up the potential for use of REG technology as a noninvasive, continuous and inexpensive brain monitor for military and civilian applications. The clinical background information presented here introduces physiological and clinical environments where REG has potential for use in research and clinical settings.

Cardiac anaphylaxis is a severe, life-threatening manifestation of acute hypersensitivity reactions to allergens and drugs. Earlier studies high-lighted an amplifying effect of locally applied C5a on the process; however, the role of systemic complement (C) activation with C5a liberation in blood has not been explored to date. In the present study, we used the porcine liposome-induced cardiopulmonary distress model for 1) characterizing and quantifying peripheral C activation-related cardiac dysfunction; 2) exploring the role of C5a in cardiac abnormalities and therapeutic potential of C blockage by soluble C receptor type 1 (sCR1) and an anti-C5a antibody (GS1); and 3) elucidating the role of adenosine and adenosine receptors in paradoxical bradycardia, one of the symptoms observed in this model. Pigs were injected intravenously with different liposomes [Doxil and multilamellar vesicles (MLV)], zymosan, recombinant human (rhu) C5a, and adenosine, and the ensuing hemodynamic and cardiac changes (hypotension, tachy- or bradycardia, arrhythmias, ST-T changes, ventricular fibrillation, and arrest) were quantified by ranking on an arbitrary scale [cardiac abnormality score (CAS)]. There was significant correlation between CAS and C5a production by liposomes in vitro, and the liposome-induced cardiac abnormalities were partially or fully reproduced with zymosan, rhuC5a, adenosine, and the selective adenosine [A.sub.1] receptor agonist cyclopentyl-adenosine. The use of C nonactivator liposomes or pretreatment of pigs with sCR1 or GS1 attenuated the abnormalities. The selective [A.sub.1] blocker cyclopentyl-xanthine inhibited bradycardia without influencing hypotension, whereas the [A.sub.2] blocker 4-(2-{7-amino-2-(2-furyl)[1,2,4]triazolo[2,3-a] [1,3,5]triazin-5-ylamino}ethyl)phenol (ZM-24135) had no such effect. These data suggest that 1) systemic C activation can underlie cardiac anaphylaxis, 2) C5a plays a causal role in the reaction, 3) adenosine action via [A.sub.1] receptors may explain paradoxical bradycardia, and 4) inhibition of C5a formation or action or of [A.sub.1]-receptor function may alleviate the acute cardiotoxicity of liposomal drugs and other intravenous agents that activate C. adenosine receptors; allergy; anaphylactoid reactions; bezold-jarisch reflex; electrocardiography; cyclopentyl-xanthine; hemodynamic changes; hypersensitivity reactions; pseudoallergy