CEREBROSPINAL FLUID PRESSURE AND VENOUS PRESSURE IN CARDIAC FAILURE

Abstract

That the venous pressure is elevated in persons with cardiac failure has been shown by a number of observers. Eyster and Middleton 1 and also Clark 2 clearly demonstrated by the indirect method of measurement that the venous pressure is an accurate guide to the course and prognosis in cardiac disease. A rising or persistently elevated venous pressure was found to offer a grave prognosis, while a falling venous pressure was observed to run parallel to the degree of improvement of the clinical condition of the patient. In studying venous pressure in cardiac failure and numerous other conditions, Harrison, 3 using the direct method, reached the same conclusion. He found that the so-called average normal pressure determined by this method was about the same as that reported for the indirect method used by Eyster. 4a It is well known that when the Queckenstedt test is performed pressure on the internal