The effect of dopamine on cerebral blood flow in acute stage of cerebral thrombosis in man

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Stroke Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 115 - 119
• Main Authors: Sasaki, Makoto, Nogaki, Hidekazu, Nagao, Tomonori, Matsuoka, Hideki, Ishida, Kazuhiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japan Stroke Society 1986
• Subjects: acute cerebral infarction; cerebral blood flow; dopamine; Xe-133 inhalation method
• ISSN: 0912-0726; 1883-1923
• DOI: 10.3995/jstroke.8.115

We studied the changes of cerebral blood flow (CBF) before and after intravenous administration of dopamine and at the same time measured dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline in serum. The CBF was measured by the Xe-133 inhalation method and calculated by initial slope index (ISI) modified by Risberg. The subjects comprised of 18 patients with acute cerebral thrombosis within one week after the ictus (5 cases : stenosis of internal carotid artery, 2 : occlusion of middle cerebral artery, 3 : stenosis of middle cerebral artery, and 8 : normal findings on angiographic examinations). Both cerebral embolism from cardiac origin and transient cerebral ischemic attacks were excepted. The CBF was significantly increased from 34.3 ± 2.6 to 37.9 ± 2.7 (11% increase) in the affected hemisphere and from 36.7 ± 2.0 to 41.5 ± 36.1 (13% increase) in the non-affected side in 6 cases with more than 100 ng/ml of serum dopamine concentration after intravenous infusion of dopamine at a rate of 10 μg/kg/min. Four cases of these patients had also a raise of systemic arterial pressure, but the others had no blood pressure changes. On the other hand, 12 patients below 100 ng/ml of dopamine concentration in serum there was no constant tendency in CBF change. In these groups any chnages of systemic blood pressure was also not observed. Dopamine (above 100 ng/ml in serum) might be an effective drug for acute cerebral thrombosis because this agent can significantly increase CBF without any overt changes in the systemic blood pressure and can be clinically used safely by intravenous infusion at a rate of 10 μg/kg/min. Relevant literatures were reviewed, and discussion was focused on the effect of domamine to cerebral blood flow.