Comment on: Brainstem perfusion is impaired in chronic fatigue syndrome. [QJM. 1995]
Sir, Costa and his colleagues {QJ Med 1995; 88:767-73) are to be congratulated for providing more information about chronic fatigue syndrome. Hypocapnia is a powerful and readily available cerebral vasoconstrictor.1
The ‘cerebral vasoconstriction, and reduction in cerebral blood flow, are initiated when the arterial pCO2 has fallen 2 mmHg below normal. When the pCO2 has fallen by 25 mmHg, cerebral blood flow is decreased by about one third … the maximum possible reduction of blood flow that can be achieved by respiratory alkalaemia is of the order of 40 per cent’.2
You can read the rest of this comment here: http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/89/2/163.1.long
Source: Nixon PG. Brainstem hypoperfusion in CFS. QJM. 1996 Feb;89(2):163-4. http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/89/2/163.1.long