[Sleep polygraphy with recording of intracranial pressure and measure of cerebral blood volume in hydrocephalic infants (author's transl)]

This study was carried with the intention of explaining the causes of modifications in intracranial pressure (ICP) during paradoxical sleep (PS) in normal and hydrocephalic infants, and establishing relationships between these modifications and cerebral blood volume (CBV). All tests (conventional sleep polygraphy, ICP measured by a transducer on the fontanel, CBV measured by isotopic labelling of red blood cells in vivo) were carried out without use of surgical procedures. During paradoxical sleep there was a sustained wave of increased intracranial pressure lasting from 10 to 20 minutes, as well as phase-type variations lasting no longer than 1 minute. Increased ICP was also observed in the normal subjects. Recordings show that there is well-defined correlation between the sustained wave of high intracranial pressure and an increase in CBV.