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. 1977 Jul 23;2(8030):161-3.
doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(77)90179-9.

Cerebral blood-flow in polycythaemia

D J Thomas, G H du Boulay, J Marshall, T C Pearson, R W Ross Russell, L Symon, G Wetherley-Mein, E Zilkha

Cerebral blood-flow in polycythaemia

D J Thomas et al. Lancet. .

Abstract

Cerebral blood-flow (C.B.F.) has been measured in 16 patients with polycythaemia of differing severity. The mean C.B.F. was 37-9 ml/100 g/min, which is significantly below the normal level of 69-1 (S.D. 9-3) ml/100 g/min (P less than 0-001). C.B.F. measurement was repeated after venesection in 15 of the patients. Lowering the haematocrit from a mean of 0-536 to a mean of 0-455 was associated with a 73% increase in mean C.B.F. (P less than 0-001) and a 30% reduction in whole-blood viscosity. Low C.B.F. was found at haematocrit levels between 0-46 and 0-52. Haematocrit levels that are currently acceptable in the management of polycythaemia may therefore be too high.

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