BILATERAL INTERNAL JUGULAR BLOOD
Comparison of A-V Differences, Oxygen-Dextrose Ratios and Respiratory Quotients
E. L. GIBBS 1,
W. G. LENNOX M. D.1, , and
F. A. GIBBS M. D.1
1 The Boston Psychopathic Hospital and the Department of Diseases of the Nervous System of the Harvard Medical School.
Blood was drawn simultaneously from an artery and the two internal jugular veins in 25 subjects.
The oxygen A-V difference was approximately the same on the two sides, except in 4 patients with psychosis, and in 4 epileptics with left-sided cerebral pathology. In the latter the oxygen A-V difference on the affected side was relatively great, suggesting a diminished blood flow.
In all but 3 of the 25 cases the respiratory quotient approached unity, the average in these 22 being .995 on the right side and .994 on the left side. Variations in the A-V differences in oxygen, as between both individuals and the two sides, did not cause a shift in the value of the respiratory quotient. The average ratio of the A-V difference of oxygen (in volumes percent) to the A-V difference of glucose (in milligrams percent) was equal, 1.63 on the right side and 1.62 on the left.
In 7 cases hyperpnea produced the usual increase in the oxygen A-V difference, with-out consistent differences on the two sides, even in the presence of unilateral brain pathology.
Simultaneous puncture of the jugulars and artery is not necessary if A-V differences in the oxygen content of the blood are being measured, but it is necessary if the carbon dioxide content, the respiratory quotient, or the oxygen-glucose ratios are being measured.
