European journal of neurology : the official journal of the European Federation of Neurological Societies
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Cerebrovascular responses to head-of-bed positioning in patients with acute ischaemic stroke are heterogeneous, questioning the applicability of general recommendations on head positioning. Cerebral autoregulation is impaired to various extents after acute stroke, although it is unknown whether this affects cerebral perfusion during posture change. We aimed to elucidate whether the cerebrovascular response to head position manipulation depends on autoregulatory performance in patients with ischaemic stroke. ⋯ This study is the first to provide evidence that cerebral autoregulatory performance in patients with acute ischaemic stroke affects the cerebrovascular response to changes in the position of the head.