Skip to main content
Thorax logoLink to Thorax
. 1978 Dec;33(6):684–688. doi: 10.1136/thx.33.6.684

Chronic hypercapnia and radiological changes in the pituitary fossa.

D A Newton, I Bone, G Bonsor
PMCID: PMC470963  PMID: 746495

Abstract

A consecutive series of ten patients with chronic bronchitis and hypercapnia were studied. All seven patients with chronic hypercapnia and one patient with intermittent hypercapnia showed evidence on skull radiographs of raised intracranial pressure. In five male and three female chronic bronchitics matched for age and ventilatory impairment, but without hypercapnia, no such radiological abnormalities were shown. The clinical significance and pathophysiology of this hitherto unreported finding is discussed. It would appear that in some cases the chronicity of hypercapnia may be diagnosed from a radiograph of the pituitary fossa.

Full text

PDF
684

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BEAUMONT G. E., HEARN J. B. A case of reversible papilloedema due to heart failure. Br Med J. 1948 Jan 10;1(4540):50–50. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.4540.50-a. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. CAMPBELL E. J., HOWELL J. B. Simple rapid methods of estimating arterial and mixed venous pCO2. Br Med J. 1960 Feb 13;1(5171):458–462. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5171.458. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. CAMPBELL E. J., SHORT D. S. The cause of oedema in "corpulmonale". Lancet. 1960 May 28;1(7135):1184–1186. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(60)91062-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cutler R. W., Barlow C. F., Lorenzo A. V. The effect of brain-cerebrospinal fluid diffusion gradients on the determination of extracellular space in cat brain. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1967 Jan;26(1):167–169. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Doyle F. H. Radiological patterns of bone disease associated with renal glomerular failure in adults. Br Med Bull. 1972 Sep;28(3):220–224. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a070932. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Du Boulay G. H., El Gammal T. The classification, clinical value and mechanism of sella turcica changes in raised intracranial pressure. Br J Radiol. 1966 Jun;39(462):422–442. doi: 10.1259/0007-1285-39-462-422. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lennox W. G., Gibbs E. L. THE BLOOD FLOW IN THE BRAIN AND THE LEG OF MAN, AND THE CHANGES INDUCED BY ALTERATION OF BLOOD GASES. J Clin Invest. 1932 Nov;11(6):1155–1177. doi: 10.1172/JCI100470. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. MANFREDI F., MERWARTH C. R., BUCKLEY C. E., 3rd, SIEKER H. O. Papilledema in chronic respiratory acidosis. Report of a case, with studies on the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier for carbon dioxide. Am J Med. 1961 Jan;30:175–180. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(61)90073-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. MILLER R. D., BASTRON J. A., KEARNS T. P. Papilledema in patients with severe pulmonary emphysema. Dis Chest. 1960 Mar;37:350–355. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. SILVERSTEIN A., GILBERT H., WASSERMAN L. R. Neurologic complications of polycythemia. Ann Intern Med. 1962 Dec;57:909–916. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-57-6-909. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. SIMPSON T. Acute respiratory infections in emphysema; an account of 118 cases. Br Med J. 1954 Feb 6;1(4857):297–301. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.4857.297. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. SPALTER H. F., BRUCE G. M. OCULAR CHANGES IN PULMONARY INSUFFICIENCY. Trans Am Acad Ophthalmol Otolaryngol. 1964 Jul-Aug;68:661–676. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Thorax are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES