The effect of passive leg raising test on intracranial pressure and cerebral autoregulation in brain injured patients: a physiological observational study

Abstract Background The use of the passive leg raising (PLR) is limited in acute brain injury (ABI) patients with increased intracranial pressure (ICP) since the postural change of the head may impact on ICP and cerebral autoregulation. However, the PLR use may prevent a positive daily fluid balance, which had been recently associated to worse neurological outcomes. We therefore studied early and delayed effects of PLR on the cerebral autoregulation of patients recovering from ABI. Materials and methods This is a Prospective, observational, single-center study conducted in critically ill patients admitted with stable ABI and receiving invasive ICP monitoring, multimodal neuromonitoring and continuous hemodynamic monitoring. The fluid challenge consisted of 500 mL of crystalloid over 10 min; fluid responsiveness was defined as cardiac index increase ≥ 10%. Comparisons between different variables at baseline and after PLR were made by paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The correlation coefficients between hemodynamic and neuromonitoring variables were assessed using Spearman’s rank test. Results We studied 23 patients [12 patients (52.2%) were fluid responders]. The PLR significantly increased ICP [from 13.7 (8.3–16.4) to 15.4 (12.0–19.2) mmHg; p < 0.001], cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) [from 51.1 (47.4–55.6) to 56.4 (49.6–61.5) mmHg; p < 0.001] and the pressure reactivity index (PRx) [from 0.12 (0.01–0.24) to 0.43 (0.34–0.46) mmHg; p < 0.001]. Regarding Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS)-derived parameters, PLR significantly increased the arterial component of regional cerebral oxygen saturation (O2Hbi) [from 1.8 (0.8–3.7) to 4.3 (2.5–5.6) μM cm; p < 0.001], the deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHbi) [from 1.6 (0.2–2.9) to 2.7 (1.4–4.0) μM cm; p = 0.007] and total hemoglobin (cHbi) [from 3.6 (1.9–5.3) to 7.8 (5.2–10.3): p < 0.001]. In all the patients who had altered autoregulation after PLR, these changes persisted ten minutes afterwards. After the PLR, we observed a significant correlation between MAP and CPP and PRx. Conclusions In ABI patient with stable ICP, PLR test increased ICP, but mostly within safety values and thresholds. Despite this, cerebral autoregulation was importantly impaired, and this persisted up to 10 min after the end of the maneuvre. Our results discourage the use of PLR test in ABI even when ICP is stable.