The Mechanics of Breathing and Stabilization of Ventilation in Patients With Unilateral Cerebral Infarction

Abstract

The mechanics of breathing and responses of the respiratory system to CO₂ during resistance breathing were studied in 12 patients with clinical evidence of unilateral cerebral infarction and compared with the findings in normal subjects. The respiratory abnormalities in patients with cerebrovascular disease consisted of noncompliant lungs and high levels of elastic and nonelastic work while rebreathing CO₂. There were no differences in responses of minute ventilation to CO₂ in the two groups. Unlike normal subjects, the patients did not increase their level of respiratory work to compensate for the addition of a modest external resistance to airflow, and the ventilatory response to CO₂, consequently, became less than in the normal subjects. This failure to maintain tidal volumes and minute ventilation while breathing through an external resistance may account for some instances of respiratory deterioration among patients with cerebrovascular disease.