Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: To measure postural changes in cerebral hemodynamics in young patients with chronic fatigue with and without orthostatic intolerance.
STUDY DESIGN: We studied 28 patients (age, 10 to 22 years) and 20 healthy control subjects (age, 6 to 27 years). Cerebral oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) and deoxygenated Hb were noninvasively and continuously measured with near infrared spectroscopy during active standing. Beat-to-beat arterial pressure was monitored by Finapres.
RESULTS: Orthostatic intolerance determined by cardiovascular responses to standing was observed in 16 of 28 patients: instantaneous orthostatic hypotension in 8, delayed orthostatic hypotension in 2, and postural orthostatic tachycardia in 6. A rapid recovery of oxy-Hb by near infrared spectroscopy at the onset of active standing was not found in 15 of 16 patients with chronic fatigue and orthostatic intolerance and in 6 of 12 patients with chronic fatigue without orthostatic intolerance but only in 2 of 20 control subjects. Thirteen of 16 patients with orthostatic intolerance showed prolonged reduction in oxy-Hb during standing.
CONCLUSIONS: Impaired cerebral hemodynamics in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and postural orthostatic tachycardia suggest a link between impaired cerebral oxygenation and chronic fatigue. However, this cannot explain the symptoms in patients meeting the criteria of chronic fatigue without orthostatic intolerance.
Comment in:
Chronic fatigue syndrome and Addison’s disease. [J Pediatr. 2003]
Orthostatic intolerance and chronic fatigue syndrome: new light on an old problem. [J Pediatr. 2002]
Source: Tanaka H, Matsushima R, Tamai H, Kajimoto Y. Impaired postural cerebral hemodynamics in young patients with chronic fatigue with and without orthostatic intolerance. J Pediatr. 2002 Apr;140(4):412-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12006954