A Study of the Effects of Caffeine on Cerebral Blood Flow in Patients Recovering from an Acute Ischaimic Stroke

Abstract

Caffeine is present in a variety of beverages and food and is widely consumed. Caffeine causes a reduction in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in healthy individuals. A similar reduction in ischaemic stroke patients could theoretically exacerbate pre- existing ischaemia. In a previous study of patients recovering from an acute ischaemic stroke using transcranial Doppler ultrasound a fall in middle cerebral artery (MCA) blood velocity (Vmca) of 12% was demonstrated after ingestion of caffeine. The aim of this study was to investigate if these velocity changes reflected changes in cerebral blood flow. The study used a randomised, double blind, cross over design. Twenty patients recovering from an acute ischaemic stroke in the MCA territory and ten controls attended two sessions having abstained from caffeine for 48hours prior to each. At each session CBF was measured 4 times using xenon clearance, twice before the oral administration of 250mg caffeine or matched placebo, and twice after. Similarly, three Vmca readings using transcranial Doppler were made prior to administration and four after. 250mg caffeine (equivalent to 2-3 cups of coffee) resulted in a significant fall in CBF and Vmca compared to placebo. This reduction occurred in stroke patients and controls and was similar on the affected stroke hemisphere and the unaffected side. Since caffeine is present in the diet of most patients recovering from an acute ischaemic stroke this effect may have adverse clinical consequences.

More information

Identifiers

Catalogue record

Export record

ASCII CitationAtomBibTeXData Cite XMLDublin CoreDublin CoreEP3 XMLEndNoteHTML CitationHTML CitationHTML ListJSONMETSMODSMPEG-21 DIDLOpenURL ContextObjectOpenURL ContextObject in SpanRDF+N-TriplesRDF+N3RDF+XMLRIOXX2 XMLReferReference ManagerSimple Metadata