Cerebral Oxygen Consumption in Essential Hypertension Constancy with Age, Severity of the Disease, Sex, and Variations of Blood Constituents, As observed In 101 Patients1

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Abstract
Nitrous oxide measurements of cerebral blood flow, arteriovenous O2 difference, and cerebral O2 uptake were made. The uptake in patients with essential hypertension is the same as that of normotensive subjects, regardless of age, severity of the disease, sex, or the degree that arterial blood constituents differ. Cerebral blood flow varies directly with cerebral O2 consumption and inversely with cerebral vascular resistance but acute expts. designed to reduce cerebral arterial perfusion pressure or reduce cerebral vascular resistance have not afforded evidence of a causal relationship. The data suggest that: 1) The cerebral O2 consumption in healthy hypertensive patients varies widely but is not significantly different from that of normotensive subjects, 2) cerebral ischemia is not a basic disturbance in the selected group of hypertensive patients studied, and 3) there is no evidence that a disturbance in acid-base balance exists in hypertension.