The Cerebral Circulation

Though the brain of man normally requires for its maintenance approximately 15% of the resting cardiac output and 20% to 25% of the total oxygen utilized by the resting subject, 1 knowledge of the mechanisms and regulation of its blood flow remains incomplete. Nevertheless, studies have appeared in increasing numbers during recent years giving a much more complete picture of normal cerebral blood flow and withal explanations for a variety of previously poorly understood observations. essay in no ways aims to review all studies of cerebral circulation, but rather to present those recent advances in knowledge which may aid the physician in the management of patients with cerebral vascular disorders and broaden his comprehension of the associated clinical phenomenology. As Sir Russell Brain 2 has recently noted: The striking feature which emerges from the recent increases in our knowledge of the cerebral circulation is the complexity and the multiplicity